8 replies to this topic

[Mathiacus]

 I just witnessed the most amazing thing! one of my M.nigrocincta was tapping furiously on another's gaster. the second was curled around with its sting pointing at the first,which was doing the tapping. after a few moments the second laid an egg directly into the mouthparts (not the mandibles) of the first then the first proceeded to eat it.

 

 is this a usual occurrence? I was blown away!

[Gregory2455]

Hahaha, well I for one do not know, because I have never seen a worker lay an egg, but then again, I do not have ants like yours that are not sterile. I do not think any ant around here has workers that can lay eggs, but prove me wrong if you can please, I have never looked into that. As for your occurrence, I think it is a pretty common thing for Myrmecia to do this, but again, I am not sure.

[dspdrew]

What a coincidence! Just before I saw this post, I witnessed one of my Pogonomyrmex tenuispinus workers laying an egg. It was biting and biting like crazy at the tip of its gaster, and then I saw a little egg starting to pop out. It kept trying and trying to grab it, but it didn't look like it was coming all the way out. Eventually, It looked like it, or part of it was just hanging there damaged.

[Gregory2455]

So our ant workers CAN lay eggs!

[DesertAntz]

Seems like the workers just get dingleberries. 

 

On a serious note, what is the purpose of workers laying eggs? Are they able to develop into males? 

[dspdrew]

They're trophic eggs produced to be used as nutritious food.

[James C. Trager]

Exactly, what dspdrew said! 

Many kinds of ants produce trophic ("feeder") eggs for nest mates, especially the queen(s), when solicited to do so. It happens quickly, and not very frequently due to limitations on egg production by workers (small ovaries), but if you watch for a while, you can see it. Tapinoma species are good for seeing this, in my experience.

Edited by James C. Trager, October 31 2014 - 1:17 PM.

[123LordOfAnts123]

I witness this constantly in my Crematogaster ashmeadi colony. In fact, the queen seems to subsist on nothing but worker-laid trophic eggs and the regurgitations of first instar larvae. The queen solicits an egg similar to how she would through trophollaxis.

[Mathiacus]

again I witnessed a Myrmecia tarsata worker laying an egg.