Liometopum occidentale Queen; First Worker! 6/8/2018

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     Last night, I ran into a pleasant surprise while checking up on my ants before I retired for the day. I pulled out the tube in which my one and only Liometopum occidentale queen resided in, she had had pupae for a week or so now, which meant workers could pop up any day. I noticed that some of the pupae appeared darker. Upon closer inspection, I realized that one of the "dark pupae", was actually a freshly eclosed (hatched) worker! Here are some pictures I took of her and her new worker:


These queens tend to lay massive first batches of eggs compared to other species. This queen is on track to get over 15 workers from her first batch of eggs (which is quite impressive in the world of ants)!


 This photo shows both the queen and her worker. As you can see, this queen did not shed her wings after her mating flight (more on mating flights here). This is common for this species, particularly for queens caught on or near lights, and for those that fall into pools after being attracted to them by the sun's reflection.

     Other people who have kept colonies of this species have said that they grow very fast, and have a very high metabolism, which means that they must have an abundant supply of sugar, else they will begin to die. These ants also don't need hibernation, although I may still want to give them a few months of it to take a break from all the maintenance required to sustain a larger colony.

     I will continue to post about this queen as she builds up her workforce and becomes the mother of a bustling ant colony. I hope you enjoyed and learnt something reading this post! 


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