9 replies to this topic

[VoidElecent]

Came home from running some errands and checked the Formica pallidefulva incerta nest in my backyard to see if I would find any alates. I did not find alates. I found chaos. In a blur of orange, I managed to identify several of my old friends, mangled and crippled, and at least hundreds of fiery-red, shiny, hooked-tooth tyrants. Polyergus lucidus. I managed to capture some quick videos:

 

The Raid

The Journey

The Return

 

Just thought this was an interesting find. I've never seen Polyergus in my life, and I frankly never thought I would. I just figured they were rare and inconspicuous; I never expected to see a stray worker, let alone a full-on raid, especially not in my backyard! 

 

From what I understand, they raid Formica incerta colonies and steal larvae/pupae that they raise to be slaves? If someone could elaborate on the process, that would be cool. The nest that they returned to (which was a solid 100 ft. away) had other Formica workers surrounding the perimeter that interacted amicably enough with the Polyergus, am I correct to assume these are workers that have already been enslaved?

 

A quick Google search also revealed that they only raid Formica incerta, so I guess I misidentified the workers in my yard. I wish my loyal F. incerta a speedy recovery. I really like them. 

[Manitobant]

I'm pretty much the expert on these guys around here, so ill chime in. Basically, the polyergus will go out and steal the brood of a formica species, which they will bring back to the nest and be raised as slaves. The raid is initiated by a lone scout who will go out and find a nest for the rest of the colony to raid, and she will lead them to that nest. The workers around the nest they were returning to are their slaves, which were kidnapped earlier. Also, polyergus aren't rare per se, they are abundant in areas with lots of host colonies, but go unnoticed because they basically just sit in the nest all day. I made a vid on how i locate them:

Edited by Manitobant, July 17 2020 - 4:03 PM.

[VoidElecent]

I'm pretty much the expert on these guys around here, so ill chime in. Basically, the polyergus will go out and steal the brood of a formica species, which they will bring back to the nest and be raised as slaves. The raid is initiated by a lone scout who will go out and find a nest for the rest of the colony to raid, and she will lead them to that nest. The workers around the nest they were returning to are their slaves, which were kidnapped earlier. Also, polyergus aren't rare per se, they are abundant in areas with lots of host colonies, but go unnoticed because they basically just sit in the nest all day. I made a vid on how i locate them:

 

I see. So, is there any conceivable way of actually founding a colony from a queen, or do there need to be F. incerta nearby?

[Superant33]

To start a colony from a queen, you must first have a host colony.

[AnthonyP163]

You do not need a host colony to start colonies of these ants.

 

Last year, I found a Polygerus breviceps queen. I introduced her to F. montana workers and she eventually got accepted. She died over the next few days for unknown reasons, but was unharmed by the looks of her body. 

 

I usually see the raids of breviceps in my yard every year but the host montana colony moved to the front yard. I noticed the usual breviceps scouts at the previous nesting location, which is where they had gone the last few years. It's interesting that these ants might remember where their host colonies are year after year. 

 

I find it interesting that Polyergus can duloticize and parasitize a polygynous species. You'd think that the colonies would be much harder to raid when there's many workers, and that a colony couldn't be entirely infiltrated when there's multiple queens in each host colony. However, P. breviceps still manages to thrive in my neighborhood off of colonies of F. montana. I believe this can be partly attributed to the fact that the montana colonies here are smaller compared to colonies I've found in the wild. In the wild, I've seen large mounds that must've contained over 10,000 workers. I know these mounds had many queens, because one small scoop of them held multiple queens and tons of brood.

 

I wonder how a Polyergus breviceps queen would go about killing all queens in a mound, or if she even has to, or if the workers do it for her. 

[Manitobant]

I'm pretty much the expert on these guys around here, so ill chime in. Basically, the polyergus will go out and steal the brood of a formica species, which they will bring back to the nest and be raised as slaves. The raid is initiated by a lone scout who will go out and find a nest for the rest of the colony to raid, and she will lead them to that nest. The workers around the nest they were returning to are their slaves, which were kidnapped earlier. Also, polyergus aren't rare per se, they are abundant in areas with lots of host colonies, but go unnoticed because they basically just sit in the nest all day. I made a vid on how i locate them:

I see. So, is there any conceivable way of actually founding a colony from a queen, or do there need to be F. incerta nearby?

yes. founding polyergus is very similar to founding parasitic formica, except these guys can't open pupae and actually need callows. Here is a video of someone founding them:

Edited by Manitobant, July 17 2020 - 10:22 PM.

[VoidElecent]

 

 

I'm pretty much the expert on these guys around here, so ill chime in. Basically, the polyergus will go out and steal the brood of a formica species, which they will bring back to the nest and be raised as slaves. The raid is initiated by a lone scout who will go out and find a nest for the rest of the colony to raid, and she will lead them to that nest. The workers around the nest they were returning to are their slaves, which were kidnapped earlier. Also, polyergus aren't rare per se, they are abundant in areas with lots of host colonies, but go unnoticed because they basically just sit in the nest all day. I made a vid on how i locate them:

I see. So, is there any conceivable way of actually founding a colony from a queen, or do there need to be F. incerta nearby?

yes. founding polyergus is very similar to founding parasitic formica, except these guys can't open pupae and actually need callows. Here is a video of someone founding them:

 

 

Very cool! Will the Polyergus queen continue to produce eggs and workers? 

[VoidElecent]

You do not need a host colony to start colonies of these ants.

 

Last year, I found a Polygerus breviceps queen. I introduced her to F. montana workers and she eventually got accepted. She died over the next few days for unknown reasons, but was unharmed by the looks of her body. 

 

I usually see the raids of breviceps in my yard every year but the host montana colony moved to the front yard. I noticed the usual breviceps scouts at the previous nesting location, which is where they had gone the last few years. It's interesting that these ants might remember where their host colonies are year after year. 

 

I find it interesting that Polyergus can duloticize and parasitize a polygynous species. You'd think that the colonies would be much harder to raid when there's many workers, and that a colony couldn't be entirely infiltrated when there's multiple queens in each host colony. However, P. breviceps still manages to thrive in my neighborhood off of colonies of F. montana. I believe this can be partly attributed to the fact that the montana colonies here are smaller compared to colonies I've found in the wild. In the wild, I've seen large mounds that must've contained over 10,000 workers. I know these mounds had many queens, because one small scoop of them held multiple queens and tons of brood.

 

I wonder how a Polyergus breviceps queen would go about killing all queens in a mound, or if she even has to, or if the workers do it for her. 

 

Really interesting excerpt from Scientific American: Slave-Making Queens on Polyergus breviceps:

 

"Because mature Formica nests often have many queens— unlike Polyergus colonies—we were also curious to see what would happen when a newly mated Polyergus queen invaded a polygynous nest. We established a series of Formica colonies that contained between two and 25 queens. Surprisingly, the number of Formica queens was of no consequence to the Polyergus queen. Because she is accepted as the royal party once she dispatches the first Formica queen, she is in no rush. Hour by hour, day by day, she methodically locates and kills every Formica queen, sometimes taking several weeks to clear out all remnants of the opposition."

 

Ir sounds like when Polyergus queens kill victim Formica queens, the chemicals that they obtain from the interaction are sufficient to escort them through the entire colony without raising any eyebrows.

[Manitobant]

I'm pretty much the expert on these guys around here, so ill chime in. Basically, the polyergus will go out and steal the brood of a formica species, which they will bring back to the nest and be raised as slaves. The raid is initiated by a lone scout who will go out and find a nest for the rest of the colony to raid, and she will lead them to that nest. The workers around the nest they were returning to are their slaves, which were kidnapped earlier. Also, polyergus aren't rare per se, they are abundant in areas with lots of host colonies, but go unnoticed because they basically just sit in the nest all day. I made a vid on how i locate them:

I see. So, is there any conceivable way of actually founding a colony from a queen, or do there need to be F. incerta nearby?

yes. founding polyergus is very similar to founding parasitic formica, except these guys can't open pupae and actually need callows. Here is a video of someone founding them:

 
Very cool! Will the Polyergus queen continue to produce eggs and workers?

Yes, as long as you provide them with enough slaves.

[AntsDakota]

You do not need a host colony to start colonies of these ants.
 
Last year, I found a Polygerus breviceps queen. I introduced her to F. montana workers and she eventually got accepted. She died over the next few days for unknown reasons, but was unharmed by the looks of her body. 
 
I usually see the raids of breviceps in my yard every year but the host montana colony moved to the front yard. I noticed the usual breviceps scouts at the previous nesting location, which is where they had gone the last few years. It's interesting that these ants might remember where their host colonies are year after year. 
 
I find it interesting that Polyergus can duloticize and parasitize a polygynous species. You'd think that the colonies would be much harder to raid when there's many workers, and that a colony couldn't be entirely infiltrated when there's multiple queens in each host colony. However, P. breviceps still manages to thrive in my neighborhood off of colonies of F. montana. I believe this can be partly attributed to the fact that the montana colonies here are smaller compared to colonies I've found in the wild. In the wild, I've seen large mounds that must've contained over 10,000 workers. I know these mounds had many queens, because one small scoop of them held multiple queens and tons of brood.
 
I wonder how a Polyergus breviceps queen would go about killing all queens in a mound, or if she even has to, or if the workers do it for her.

 
Really interesting excerpt from Scientific American: Slave-Making Queens on Polyergus breviceps:
 

"Because mature Formica nests often have many queens— unlike Polyergus colonies—we were also curious to see what would happen when a newly mated Polyergus queen invaded a polygynous nest. We established a series of Formica colonies that contained between two and 25 queens. Surprisingly, the number of Formica queens was of no consequence to the Polyergus queen. Because she is accepted as the royal party once she dispatches the first Formica queen, she is in no rush. Hour by hour, day by day, she methodically locates and kills every Formica queen, sometimes taking several weeks to clear out all remnants of the opposition."

 

Ir sounds like when Polyergus queens kill victim Formica queens, the chemicals that they obtain from the interaction are sufficient to escort them through the entire colony without raising any eyebrows.

This is how Formica social parasites found as well. However, the Formica parasites are often polygynous themselves, which probably helps.