2 replies to this topic

[BMM]

I have a Tapinoma sessile colony with one fertile queen and about two weeks ago another queen eclosed. That just so happened to right about the time some T. sessile flew here in MO, so I captured a male alate and tossed him in to see if they'd mate. The colony accepted the male after some initial panic and although I never saw the deed, I believe they mated as the female alate has since shed her wings. However, the male is still milling about like he's ready for round two. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought males pretty much expended themselves when mating and died shortly thereafter.

[Runner12]

Captive infertile queens will sometimes shed their wings without mating. I've seen it happen in a colony of mine that produced queens. Very unlikely that they actually mated unfortunately.

[BMM]

That very well could be the case, although Tapinoma sessile are know to mate in the nest, so it's possible. The now wingless queen chased him around quite a bit, so it seems like some chemistry was at work.