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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2012 23:37:33 GMT 1
Is it possible? For those of you who don't know, Diacamma rugosum are a species of ant which does not have a queen, but instead has one mated egg-laying ex-worker (called a gamergate) per colony. At intervals, I assume every year, males are produced which mate with some of the workers. The colony then buds off, forming a new colony, or possibly more, away from the parent one. I see no reason why this would not be possible in captivity.
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Post by Myrm on Jan 1, 2012 23:50:00 GMT 1
Vary interesting post, Billy.
Would the males mate within the same colony? If not, then captive breeding may be difficult.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2012 0:03:30 GMT 1
I dunno, as the few ant documentaries I have watch state that the males will mate with queens of other colonies. And even if they won't mate within the colony, unless you buy a large colony, males will not be produced for years.
They seem a really cool species.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2012 1:04:00 GMT 1
I'm not sure whether they will mate with their own colony. I guess you could get two, and move the males between them.
As for having to wait a long time before males are produced, this species has, rather conveniently, a maximum colony size of around 100 workers. It shouldn't take long to reach this size.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2012 1:34:38 GMT 1
They are expensive though.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2012 10:52:53 GMT 1
I assume that the only way to tell a gamergate apart from the workers would be to witness her laying eggs? I guess that Diacamma colonies wouldn't produce as many eggs as a species with a dedicated fertile female (Queen) would.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2012 11:56:56 GMT 1
I assume that the only way to tell a gamergate apart from the workers would be to witness her laying eggs? I guess that Diacamma colonies wouldn't produce as many eggs as a species with a dedicated fertile female (Queen) would. That is a good point. As I don't know the rate at which eggs are produced, I can't predict how long it would take for a colony to grow to 100 workers.
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