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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2012 16:36:43 GMT 1
I ask this question really as I have recently found 6 small Messor workers dead in one of my nests this week, not all in one go but over the period of around a week. The nest is a good 50+ ants strong. I wondered if if it is something to do with the fact they may be the first batch of workers the queen had and have just come to the end of their life span. They were all the same size and fairly small. I would just like to know out of curiosity how long an average worker lives for? For instance how long does a Messor, minor worker live for? Then as an added question the amount of time it takes for an ant to hatch from egg to adult? Thanks guys!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2012 16:53:42 GMT 1
Nanitics usually don't live longer than a year.
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Post by Myrm on Jul 16, 2012 18:33:52 GMT 1
When I first got my Lasius umbratus (Lu) colony there were still about 30 Lasius niger (Ln) workers present, no Lu workers and one Lu queen. All the brood that she came with hatched into Lu workers. It took two years for all those Ln workers to die out. Workers in the wild can expect to live for up to one year. Workers in captivity can live a lot longer than that as my Ln proved. Bear in mind that when I got the colony those Ln workers were not nanitics.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2012 17:05:45 GMT 1
I think it takes around 2 months from egg to adult however exact times depend on the species I think.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2012 15:00:50 GMT 1
Following up this, I continue to find small Messor workers dead or dying in their 'Waste' area. Is this because they have reached the end of their life? As I believe the colony to be just over a year old and they look the right size to be nantics? Does the colony reach a state where workers die every day but more workers hatch each day in higher volume thus the size of the colony increases? Concerned
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2012 15:04:38 GMT 1
If they are small workers, then they could be Nanitics, BSF said they dont live longer then a year
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