I recently dug up a fire ant next and found the queen. I know she is the queen because tons of other ants always made sure she was surrounded. They didn't do this for any other ant. That includes at least 9 or 10 other clearly female ants that had lost their wings. They look identical to the queen of course. The ants did not swarm these like they did the queen, or even pay them any particular attention. So, what exactly is the deal with these?
I know fire ant colonies can have multiple queens. But if these were also queens, wouldn't the worker ants protect them like they did the other queen?
Might these simply be female ants that somehow had their wings ripped off, and thus not yet having mated? I think the female ants only lose their wings after they've had their nuptial flights. That would sure be a lot of accidental wing removals - I found 9 or 10 of these girls before I stopped looking because there were so many.
Might these have mated, but simply not started laying eggs because the queen is still alive and kicking? Maybe fertile ants can have some kind of "hibernation" status whereby they don't start laying until the time is right, i.e. the death or other absence of the queen. If I take one of these girls, and some associated worker ants, and put them in a separate enclosure apart from the rest of the colony, might these start laying eggs to make their own colony?
Thanks!
Side, kind of unrelated question. I have found some queen wondering on the sidewalk that I've kept in a water test tube enclosure. Some are laying eggs, I'm so happy about it. But some have not after at least a couple of weeks. I assume they haven't mated. If I stick a winged male ant in the tube with them from another next, any chance they would mate? I worry the answer is no, I think someone said in another thread that fire ants only mate on their nuptial flights. But I thought I would ask.
Thanks.
