10 replies to this topic

[cpman]

Hi everyone. Because it is freakishly cold today (60! -- it was over 80 yesterday!), I decided to look at some ants while the cold was keepig them slower. I found two really odd Pheidole colonies. Most of the Pheidole I find are a large, aggressive species in the P. fallax-group. Their majors are around 3-4 mm with a light colored head and mesosoma.
The two colonies I found today were really odd, because in addition to no majors and minors that look like the most common species around here, there were some pure black, shiny majors that were about 1/2 mm smaller than the typical ones. What could they be doing in there? They cooperated amicably with the main Pheidole, moving brood. Their head shape was the same. The majors with light colored heads weren't shiny at all.
Could this be some sort of facultative social parasitism or something else?
I have a low-quality picture that I could post if need be...

Thanks!

[dspdrew]

That's pretty weird. I would love to see pictures of it.

[Gregory2455]

Parasitism?

[cpman]

Here is a poor quality picture. You can see both types of majors in it. I'll try to collect some specimens of each later to get photos of:

[dspdrew]

That's pretty strange.

[Myrmicinae]

Very interesting.  It could be a species with a trimorphic worker caste.  This would explain the unusual size variation.  The difference in coloration could simply be explained by age differences.

Edited by Myrmicinae, May 5 2015 - 6:12 PM.

[Ants4fun]

Maybe they just eclosed.

[dspdrew]

Maybe they just eclosed.

 

I was wondering if that could be it.

[cpman]

I'll try to grab a few of each type of major. I think they could have stolen pupae from another Pheidole for food, and forgot to eat them all. I just hope neither colony I found like this has moved due to the 5" of rain we got yesterday...

[dspdrew]

I think they could have stolen pupae from another Pheidole for food, and forgot to eat them all.

 

[Gregory2455]

Any parasitic mites? I know that if a callow worker gets mites then it stays lightly colored for the whole time it has the mites.