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News - Ant larvae defend their homes by eating eggs laid by intruders


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5 replies to this topic

#1 Offline StopSpazzing - Posted March 6 2019 - 11:01 AM

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https://www.newscien...d-by-intruders/

Wow, that means they can smell while in larva state and can difference between friend and foe.
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> Ant Keeping Wiki is back up! Currently being migrated from old wiki. :)Looking to adopt out: Crematogaster sp. (Acrobat Ants) colonies

#2 Offline Zeiss - Posted March 6 2019 - 11:10 AM

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Interesting, that means they have better detection than the actual workers and queen?


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#3 Offline Zeiss - Posted March 7 2019 - 1:34 AM

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To add to this post because I think it needs more attention:

 

I wonder if brood/larvae that are stolen and taken back to other nests ever try to eat the foreigners around them.


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#4 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted March 7 2019 - 4:28 AM

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I never thought about that...

#5 Offline DJoseph98 - Posted March 11 2019 - 1:38 PM

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I wonder if they would try eating another larva as well...

Current Colonies

1 x Camponotus nearcticus (Monogynous), 1 x Crematogaster cerasi (Monogynous), 1 x Formica cf. subsericea (Polygynous Two-Queen), 1 x Formica cf. pallidefulva (Monogynous, single worker),

1 x Lasius cf. americanus (Pleometrotic Founding, now Monogynous), 1 x Tetramorium immigrans (Monogynous)

 

Current Founding Units

1 x Formica cf. subsericea (Monogynous)

 

Up-To-Date as of 9/15/2020

 


#6 Offline Joehostile85 - Posted March 12 2019 - 5:46 AM

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All I got from that article is that ant larvae consume food, but they won’t eat their own colonies eggs as food. I doubt that has anything to do with defending their nest from parasitic ants. Especially since the study said only 11% of the parasitic eggs were eaten. I’m sure those larvae would have eaten any species of eggs, not just eggs from a parasitic species. What is interesting is if the larvae can tell the eggs are foreign, but somehow the workers aren’t able to.




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