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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2012 0:45:35 GMT 1
i have what i believe was confirmed to be a lasius niger and after reading a few sources i thought i knew what to expect. i saw a few larval stages over the course of a month or so then what appeared to be a few cocoons. then a couple of white ants all folded up. so thought yay first workers. but they did nothing and still look the same a few weeks later. so i had convinced myself that this was a pupa stage and they would be like this for a few weeks and they were not in fact niger. but now i'm starting to worry that the first workers have died for some reason. edit: ok maby panic over googled around a bit more and found link back to this forum and this thread myrm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=genants&action=display&thread=2871in which my situation is explained my ants do in fact have nothing to attach to so have not spun cocoons. though i though i had seen cocoons unless that was the last larval molt. input still appreciated.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2012 17:08:38 GMT 1
My advice is the first thing to do is not panic and change anything drastically until you know what you're doing: the worst thing someone can do with nurturing queens is freak out and hurt or panic the queen herself, or separate her from her eggies etc etc. So just try and stay calm for now and let the cavalry arive with some advice! Sadly I've never had a lasius niger so I can't help specifically
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2012 10:10:27 GMT 1
shes (the queen ant) is not making this easy. she has balled up pieces of damp tissue paper and built a wall over here brood which makes it hard enough to see how things are going, but the pieces of tissue all look about same size and colour as the small white ants.
what should i expect of these small white ants will they just eventually darken and start moving around?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2012 0:30:41 GMT 1
I have a L. Niger Queen and some workers and the first new worker that appeared was completely white/clear apart from her mandibles, she quickly darkened over the next 12 hours though.
And the non cocooned thing I think can happen to L. Niger from the scarce bits of information I have found online (couldnt find anything on the boards here about it but I know it is here somewhere.) If they are naked pupae (correct term?) then they will be very still for a while and darken after getting up and moving around or just before. I wouldnt worry about it as long as the queen is still moving, she will know whats best.
Ofcourse I have only been involved with ants for 4 weeks so I wouldnt take anything I say as accurate until someone else says it is right.
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Post by Myrm on Oct 7, 2012 8:35:20 GMT 1
Lasius Niger, being Formicine ants, usually have cocoons rather than "naked" pupae. However it is not uncommon for Ln to have pupae from time to time. Pupae look like waxy white folded up ants. The development speed of pupae and cocoons is much the same within species.
Which ever way they develop they will initially be white until they darken to the species colour.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2012 8:42:24 GMT 1
Wow, i thought they call just had "naked" pupae, never knew they had cocoons too.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2012 5:28:02 GMT 1
I should point out that cocoons are pupae, just like both cocoons and chrysalides of moths are pupae. Pupa can describe any cocooned or non-cocooned ant.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2012 0:44:29 GMT 1
I should point out that cocoons are pupae, just like both cocoons and chrysalides of moths are pupae. Pupa can describe any cocooned or non-cocooned ant. I second that.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2012 13:12:42 GMT 1
just as a followup looks like the white ants are starting to change colour. their mandibles are a noticeable orange now.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2012 19:10:01 GMT 1
thats good
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