12 replies to this topic

[CatsnAnts]

Alright, so I have a temnothorax colony of about 160 workers and about 12 alates. I’ve noticed these alates recently (past 2 days) have been in the outworld when I woke up. I’ve been putting them back in the nest, and the following night they will “attempt” to fly away again. Does this mean that wild temnothorax colonies are also having nuptial flights? I’ve been wanting to find some queens.

[PacificNorthWestern]

not always, but that is what it could mean, and there is only one way to find out. Go outside and see!   Their are certain conditions required for nuptial flights to happen, but if nuptial flight pheromones are triggering that reaction then there probably are nuptial flights happening

[CatsnAnts]

Alright, thanks!

[Mdrogun]

Their are certain conditions required for nuptial flights to happen, but if nuptial flight pheromones are triggering that reaction then there probably are nuptial flights happening

I don't believe we have any evidence for "nuptial flight pheromones" that trigger nuptial flights. Ants primarily pay attention to weather conditions. That is why we can somewhat reliably say "x species will fly in x month." I wouldn't be surprised if the myth came from the fact that queens release pheromones to tell the workers they are going into flight and they release pheromones to attract males to mate with them. However, I doubt that these pheromones would be strong enough to travel all the way from a mating swarm, that is quite possibly very high up in the air, to your colony who is indoors. That is assuming that these pheromones even trigger nuptial flights from other colonies in the first place.

It could be your captive ant colony is detecting a humidity change, rain, etc. that triggered the wild colony. Or any other number of factors from their environment. Like you watering their nest. There's no real way to know.

 

Hope this clears some things up 

[CatsnAnts]

Their are certain conditions required for nuptial flights to happen, but if nuptial flight pheromones are triggering that reaction then there probably are nuptial flights happening

I don't believe we have any evidence for "nuptial flight pheromones" that trigger nuptial flights. Ants primarily pay attention to weather conditions. That is why we can somewhat reliably say "x species will fly in x month." I wouldn't be surprised if the myth came from the fact that queens release pheromones to tell the workers they are going into flight and they release pheromones to attract males to mate with them. However, I doubt that these pheromones would be strong enough to travel all the way from a mating swarm, that is quite possibly very high up in the air, to your colony who is indoors. That is assuming that these pheromones even trigger nuptial flights from other colonies in the first place.

It could be your captive ant colony is detecting a humidity change, rain, etc. that triggered the wild colony. Or any other number of factors from their environment. Like you watering their nest. There's no real way to know.

Hope this clears some things up

Thank you! That was very helpful!

[PacificNorthWestern]

Okay, I think that may be more accurate but assuming that you keep ants inside your house instead of your garage I think their awareness of they surroundings would be stimulated as they are inside. If so how could they detect rain inside in an enclosed setup, inside, I believe this colony is in a test tube set up too so the majority of the queens/males would have to detect a temperature change outside while they are inside... while in a test tube... probably with a lid on and a little mesh of the outworld... Of course it the response could be artificially made. I heard that nuptial flight pheromones were made by colonies close and carried by the wind, not in the middle of a nuptial flight, but before. Stated by Ants Canada, so I wouldn't doubt that so quickly. If there is a screen on your windows or you leave your windows open there is a possibility that nuptial flight pheromones made by MULTIPLE  colonies made it to the colony and then they proceeded to spread it more if that was true. The video was called POV of a queen ant, skip to 6:30 minute mark if you really don't think he said that. Also,(This is my thought) I find it hard to believe that hundreds on hundreds of colonies know when and where to go without communication.  I am not denying weather plays a big factor in determining when nuptial flights happen, i'm just saying they have to decide where to go and it is not on accident. I made a lot assumptions and hope this is at least mostly correct and helps you

Edited by PacificNorthWestern, June 22 2019 - 5:57 PM.

[rbarreto]

I wouldn't use antscanada as a reference for anything.

[PacificNorthWestern]

really? why is that

[Mdrogun]

really? why is that

Antscanada on numerous occasions has spread misinformation. In his most recent video he claimed worker ants live for "2-3 months" and "queens live for decades." I guess this could be true in some instances, for a few select species, but this is a gross oversimplification. I've also seen him post on social media showing Camponotus sp. claiming in the picture is a "super major", while to this day I've never found any scientific literature showing that any genus outside of Pheidole have super majors. Someone may correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that term was initially used to describe the trimorphic worker castes of certain Pheidole species in the Southwestern deserts in North America. He has kinda taken that and run wild with it. Every big major is now a super major. 

 

The point I'm trying to make is that his goal is not to be 100% accurate and spread information among the anting community. His goal is to be entertaining for those sweet, sweet ad revenue dollars.

 

If I am wrong, I will happily admit my mistake and move on. I just ask you find a paper or something of reasonable credibility that supports your claim. My goal is not to insult or be hostile, I just am tired of seeing misinformation in general spread through the community from Antscanada.

[CatsnAnts]

really? why is that

Antscanada on numerous occasions has spread misinformation. In his most recent video he claimed worker ants live for "2-3 months" and "queens live for decades." I guess this could be true in some instances, for a few select species, but this is a gross oversimplification. I've also seen him post on social media showing Camponotus sp. claiming in the picture is a "super major", while to this day I've never found any scientific literature showing that any genus outside of Pheidole have super majors. Someone may correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that term was initially used to describe the trimorphic worker castes of certain Pheidole species in the Southwestern deserts in North America. He has kinda taken that and run wild with it. Every big major is now a super major.

The point I'm trying to make is that his goal is not to be 100% accurate and spread information among the anting community. His goal is to be entertaining for those sweet, sweet ad revenue dollars.

If I am wrong, I will happily admit my mistake and move on. I just ask you find a paper or something of reasonable credibility that supports your claim. My goal is not to insult or be hostile, I just am tired of seeing misinformation in general spread through the community from Antscanada.

Ya, I’ve got to agree when I comes to AntsCanada being “not totally truthful.”

[TennesseeAnts]

Antscanada is 100% entertainment...

[PacificNorthWestern]

 

really? why is that

Antscanada on numerous occasions has spread misinformation. In his most recent video he claimed worker ants live for "2-3 months" and "queens live for decades." I guess this could be true in some instances, for a few select species, but this is a gross oversimplification. I've also seen him post on social media showing Camponotus sp. claiming in the picture is a "super major", while to this day I've never found any scientific literature showing that any genus outside of Pheidole have super majors. Someone may correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that term was initially used to describe the trimorphic worker castes of certain Pheidole species in the Southwestern deserts in North America. He has kinda taken that and run wild with it. Every big major is now a super major. 

 

The point I'm trying to make is that his goal is not to be 100% accurate and spread information among the anting community. His goal is to be entertaining for those sweet, sweet ad revenue dollars.

 

If I am wrong, I will happily admit my mistake and move on. I just ask you find a paper or something of reasonable credibility that supports your claim. My goal is not to insult or be hostile, I just am tired of seeing misinformation in general spread through the community from Antscanada.

 

That is an answer that I respect. You provided examples and told the reasoning why he would do that. AC was the only source I found for Nuptial flight pheromones and I am sorry for causing a commotion. I agree about misinformation. It's just sad to me that he has to lie in his videos, and spread misinformation. 

Edited by PacificNorthWestern, June 23 2019 - 7:19 AM.

[TennesseeAnts]

He knows his fan base is mainly 10-15 year olds, and knows that he can easily influence them. He knows he doesn't have to tell the truth because his fans are too blind to tell that he is lying and don't check credible articles and papers made by real scientists...