4 replies to this topic

[AntsBrazil]

Hello, I turned a log and saw 2 Camponotus Rufipes about 1cm of each other under the same log. Is this normal?

 

[Kevin]

Yes. I've found lasius under rocks with only a tiny bit of dirt separating them.

[Antsinmycloset]

I will say that's pretty impressively close, but I currently have three first year Camponotus colonies I collected while trying to get some pupae for boosting purposes. All three were from a 2-3 foot section of one side of one particular log.

I get the feeling that logs with the right of decay so as to be both secure and easily workable by a founding queen are relatively rare and in high demand.

[MichiganAnts]

that's nothing, i've found 6 lasius SP queens in the same log. the log was ~ 2 feet long and 5 inches thick. in my area its almost 100% if i find 1 lasius queen, ill find another in the same log.. no idea why

[Serafine]

Probably because the number of habitable logs is vastly outshined by the number of queens looking for a new home. And then the ants usually have a relatively limited flight range (unless they start at a hillside where they can get carried for kilometers when picked up by the wind they most likely don't fly very long distances) which further reduces the number of reachable logs.

I guess most of them will engage in wars over their logs somewhere in spring which leads to all colonies except one getting eradicated. You can see this with Tetramorium quite frequently around spring/early summer (although they don't live in logs but under sidewalks, larger stones and lawns) when they erupt from underground and fight for hours, sometimes days.

 

(RIFA does something similar, except they don't kill off other RIFA colonies but instead absorb them. If you look for RIFA during early summer and you're lucky you might find nests with up to 50 queens. The workers later usually kill all but one queen though.)

Edited by Serafine, November 21 2016 - 12:38 AM.