21 replies to this topic

[john1994]

So I have a small colony of Crematogaster, about 10 - 20 workers. So far everything was fine, they have broods, eating well and so on. However, one morning when I woke up, I noticed there's this two ants worker fighting each other and it has been going on for hours. Sadly they are inside the nest, therefore it was hard for me to put my hand in to stop it. Help! Can someone tell me what's going on.

Edited by john1994, June 23 2020 - 11:55 AM.

[TheMicroPlanet]

Are you sure they're not just doing trophallaxis?

[john1994]

Are you sure they're not just doing trophallaxis?

 

100% sure they fighting. They curling up and biting each other, even one of their leg is being cut off. This is my first time seeing something like this, pretty interesting.

Edited by john1994, June 23 2020 - 1:24 PM.

[Antkid12]

 

Are you sure they're not just doing trophallaxis?

 

100% sure they fighting. They curling up and biting each other, even one of their leg is being cut off. This is my first time seeing something like this, pretty interesting.

 

Oh man, maybe one of them didn't have the colony's scent.

Edited by Antkid12, June 23 2020 - 1:44 PM.

[TheMicroPlanet]

 

 

Are you sure they're not just doing trophallaxis?

 

100% sure they fighting. They curling up and biting each other, even one of their leg is being cut off. This is my first time seeing something like this, pretty interesting.

 

Oh man, maybe one of them didn't have the colony's scent.

 

In that case, could it be some kind of genetic malfunction?

[john1994]

 

 

 

Are you sure they're not just doing trophallaxis?

 

100% sure they fighting. They curling up and biting each other, even one of their leg is being cut off. This is my first time seeing something like this, pretty interesting.

 

Oh man, maybe one of them didn't have the colony's scent.

 

In that case, could it be some kind of genetic malfunction?

 

 

They doing fine for 1 month though, not sure why today they're fighting. I suspect they must have some kind of disagreement. It was during the time when I was feeding them dead cricket. Not sure how does feeding cricket trigger them to fight. The funny thing is while they are fighting, the other ants were trying to seperate them from fighting. They finally stop fighting, but after a while when they meet each other again, they fight again......... Yeah I am so confused as to what's going on.

Edited by john1994, June 23 2020 - 2:47 PM.

[ponerinecat]

 

 

 

Are you sure they're not just doing trophallaxis?

 

100% sure they fighting. They curling up and biting each other, even one of their leg is being cut off. This is my first time seeing something like this, pretty interesting.

 

Oh man, maybe one of them didn't have the colony's scent.

 

In that case, could it be some kind of genetic malfunction?

 

Scent probably isn't the issue here. If it were it would show up the instant the worker ecloses, and she would be eaten/dumped before she could even move, instead of showing up later. On the other hand, I don't know what this could be.

[john1994]

 

 

Are you sure they're not just doing trophallaxis?

 

100% sure they fighting. They curling up and biting each other, even one of their leg is being cut off. This is my first time seeing something like this, pretty interesting.

 

Oh man, maybe one of them didn't have the colony's scent.

 

 

Is that even possible? I mean they been living in the test tube for 1 month though. The scent should be the same, same queen.

[TechAnt]

Are you sure they're not just doing trophallaxis?

100% sure they fighting. They curling up and biting each other, even one of their leg is being cut off. This is my first time seeing something like this, pretty interesting.

Oh man, maybe one of them didn't have the colony's scent.

Is that even possible? I mean they been living in the test tube for 1 month though. The scent should be the same, same queen.

Perhaps it got the scent of the cricket when eating it, and that other worker saw it as a threat/food as the colony scent was covered over by the cricket’s scent.

Edited by TechAnt, June 23 2020 - 3:15 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Ant colonies do wierd and creepy things like this sometimes that make no sense whatsoever. It’s best to focus on the big picture and not fixate on incidents like this.

[ponerinecat]

 

 

 

 

Are you sure they're not just doing trophallaxis?

100% sure they fighting. They curling up and biting each other, even one of their leg is being cut off. This is my first time seeing something like this, pretty interesting.

Oh man, maybe one of them didn't have the colony's scent.

Is that even possible? I mean they been living in the test tube for 1 month though. The scent should be the same, same queen.

Perhaps it got the scent of the cricket when eating it, and that other worker saw it as a threat/food as the colony scent was covered over by the cricket’s scent.

 

Again, its likely not scent, and that's not even how scent works. Pheromones are extruded by the ants themselves, its always there. If simply getting cricket juice or even just touching a cricket made a worker ant foreign to the colony, ants would be an evolutionary failure.

[TechAnt]

I was thinking about that when posting, I just wanted to put the idea out there.

Edited by TechAnt, June 23 2020 - 4:14 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

Ant colonies do wierd and creepy things like this sometimes that make no sense whatsoever. It’s best to focus on the big picture and not fixate on incidents like this.

Honeybees kill workers infected by mites or other pathogens ASAP to limit it's spread throughout the colony. Perhaps the ants are doing something similar?

[ANTdrew]

Ant colonies do wierd and creepy things like this sometimes that make no sense whatsoever. It’s best to focus on the big picture and not fixate on incidents like this.

Honeybees kill workers infected by mites or other pathogens ASAP to limit it's spread throughout the colony. Perhaps the ants are doing something similar?

I think you’re right, Ant_Dude.

[TechAnt]

Ant colonies do wierd and creepy things like this sometimes that make no sense whatsoever. It’s best to focus on the big picture and not fixate on incidents like this.

Honeybees kill workers infected by mites or other pathogens ASAP to limit it's spread throughout the colony. Perhaps the ants are doing something similar?

I think you’re right, Ant_Dude.

If so, then why is the ant fighting back? Is it just confused and does not know that it has a disease?

[ponerinecat]

 

 

 

Ant colonies do wierd and creepy things like this sometimes that make no sense whatsoever. It’s best to focus on the big picture and not fixate on incidents like this.

Honeybees kill workers infected by mites or other pathogens ASAP to limit it's spread throughout the colony. Perhaps the ants are doing something similar?

I think you’re right, Ant_Dude.

If so, then why is the ant fighting back? Is it just confused and does not know that it has a disease?

 

I mean, yeah. Nothing actively wants to die. It probably is completely unaware of a disease, if it has one.

[TechAnt]

Ant colonies do wierd and creepy things like this sometimes that make no sense whatsoever. It’s best to focus on the big picture and not fixate on incidents like this.

Honeybees kill workers infected by mites or other pathogens ASAP to limit it's spread throughout the colony. Perhaps the ants are doing something similar?

I think you’re right, Ant_Dude.

If so, then why is the ant fighting back? Is it just confused and does not know that it has a disease?

I mean, yeah. Nothing actively wants to die. It probably is completely unaware of a disease, if it has one.

I mean, if only the ant could tell the other it would have to die for the colony, and it could go peacefully. *cough pheromones if that’s possible*

[Kaelwizard]

If that was possible, that would make ants some of the most intelligent animals in the world, though they are already one of the smartest insects.

Edited by Kaelwizard, June 24 2020 - 12:41 PM.

[Vendayn]

Its a glitch in the matrix

[OhNoNotAgain]

I've read about someone else's colony where workers were starting to attack each other (but this person has been having some weird weird problems).

Is it always the same two workers? (Not that it's easy to figure out.) None of the other workers seem to have issues with either of the two?

I know these are weird outlier cases but I'm still really intrigued.

 

EDIT: I wonder if they have different fathers and this is a rare case where the genetics were just different enough...? Just wild conjecture.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, June 26 2020 - 10:27 AM.