8 replies to this topic

[BMM]

About three weeks ago I captured some Tetramorium workers from my backyard and put them in a small formicarium. A few of them have died since then and today I decided to add a few more workers to replenish their numbers. After grabbing some from the same ant hill as the originals and dumping them in, I was surprised to see a mini Tetramorium war erupt. While I can't identify new from old, I'm pretty sure all of the newcomers were killed.

 

This experience got me wondering how long it takes an ant or group of ants to lose the original colony's scent. While I really have no justification for thinking so, a few weeks just seems like too short a time for them to have evolved their own unique scent. I know Tetramorium are very territorial and this is about the time of year when they start warring with other Tetramorium colonies, so perhaps they're hypersensitive. Anyway, I was curious if anyone has had similar experiences with ants rejecting their former colony.

[Martialis]

That's pretty interesting. I found an escaped Camponotus nanitic about a week after the fact and it was still accepted.

[LC3]

3 weeks is plenty enough for a change in total isolation.

If you would like to test this you can take 2 samples from a colony, keep each one of them isolated after X number of weeks reintroduce them (A+B, A+C B+C) 

[BMM]

Considering that the results are generally fatal, I'd prefer not to experiment with it.

 

I guess my next question is why this happens? That scent is probably one of the most important identifiers for ants. Why would it change so rapidly? Does a change in environment/conditions have some effect? Or is a colony's scent always changing and the ants are simply aware of the change due to continual contact with other colony members?

[Batspiderfish]

We're probably talking about something which has been way too oversimplified by common understanding. Ants have a complicated chemical language, accompanied by complicated and unique behaviors. Just because an ant smells differently is not the end-all of eusocial society. Bringing up Camponotus, as an example: nanitics of different colonies or even different species might be carried to a new nest and adopted if their old queen is not sufficiently fit (i.e. dead). There are likely hidden rules for every lineage of ant and probably every environment which determine how they deal with social cues like identity odor.

I am somewhat unconvinced that social parasitism is just a matter of colony scent.

Edited by Batspiderfish, March 21 2017 - 4:44 AM.

[sgheaton]

I've tried to boost the tetra colony last year, basically learned that tetramoriums are kind of jerks. Just all around dirty and disrespectful.
Like mine from last year aren't setting up shop where I want them to....darnet. 

[MichiganAnts]

i had a wild nanitic waiting near my colonies a week ago. i didn't know if it was an escapee or what but i put it in with a colony of the same species. she was accepted without worry. they did "quarantine" her in the outworld for about an hour. meaning that she was not allowed in the nest until ~an hour.

[OmniusClone]

I'm not sure, but I recall reading about an experiment conducted at one time to determine this.
Essentially, the proctor took two colonies of the same species (apologies that I don't have specifics), and introduced them into the same formicarium but divided by a micro-mesh. This allowed the pheromone signatures​ from both colonies to intermingle, but didn't allow the workers to kill each other as would normally occur. After about 3 weeks to a month, aggression completely died down, and the two colonies considered themselves unified to the extent that the mesh could be removed.
Again,I don't know if this was conducted with specifically polygynous species,who orchestrated it, or even if this actually happened and it isn't just my idea. So for safety's sake, consider this hear-say.

That being said, I'm fairly certain that this was indeed a real study, conducted at some point by an actual myrmecologist or an enthusiast. If it hasn't, then it definitely needs to be done.

[Leo]

i introduced a wild camponotus pupae to mine, different sp but they accepted it