ant queen

[MrMistery]

About the ant queen. I was wondering. What is it that makes it look bigger and different than the rest of the ants. And anothr question: how is a queen born?

[alison1977uk]

As far as I know, most ants are born female and as such are all potential queens. However I think that the queen secretes a chemical that prevents the ants she lives with from becoming queens. There can still be outside usurpers coming into an existing colony.

Initially a female ant flies off in search of a colony of her own and once she finds one, she bites off her wings. These later become glands that secrete something (I forget what). As she becomes established as the new queen she is fed by the workers and so her abdomen becomes more and more swollen. Eventually it becomes so swollen she cannot move and becomes reliant upon the colony to feed her and care for her eggs.

This is not a full answer but is as much as I know.

[MrMistery]

Hey, thanks.. It was something my sister asked me and i didn't know what to answer exactly. But that is close to what i thought..
Thanks again..

[alison1977uk]

no problem

I don't suppose you can help me with my giant frog spawn problem?

[MrMistery]

nope, sorry.. by the way i think they are reptile eggs. i don't know of any amphibian that big...

[Dr.Stein]

What should I say now? Aww

[alison1977uk]

nope, sorry.. by the way i think they are reptile eggs. i don't know of any amphibian that big...

Well that thought corssed my mind too, but a reptile egg is longer in shape with a leathery shell and these (other than the size) resemble frog spawn. Also the fact that I found an independant picture titled "giant frog spawn" photographed by someone else in the same park, also further makes me believe the frog spawn assumption. I know there are no frogs that big and so
the identification is rather difficult.

My friend who took the photograph intends to go back to the original site to have another look soon.

All I can think is either it is something rather odd and not native over here, or that it is some very clever hoax.

Thanks for your help though guys

[chicoguardian]

As far as I know, most ants are born female and as such are all potential queens. However I think that the queen secretes a chemical that prevents the ants she lives with from becoming queens. There can still be outside usurpers coming into an existing colony.

Initially a female ant flies off in search of a colony of her own and once she finds one, she bites off her wings. These later become glands that secrete something (I forget what). As she becomes established as the new queen she is fed by the workers and so her abdomen becomes more and more swollen. Eventually it becomes so swollen she cannot move and becomes reliant upon the colony to feed her and care for her eggs.

This is not a full answer but is as much as I know.

but if the Female ants secrete a chemichal to prevent others from becoming the queen, dies that mean that female ants have different strengths of chemical?

[alison1977uk]

If that queen dies then after a short while another female ant will become queen. The succesful female stays I guess and if there is another then it leaves and finds a colony. Hey I don't know lol.

[flint]

there are pheromones associated with control of an ant colony

depending on the species of ants multiple queens can exist at the same time in the same colony

other species only have a single queen and will die out if the queen dies

others still have a single queen, when she dies and the control pheromone is gone all females will start to develop into queens until one becomes the queen and gains control of the colony

edit: I threw out all my entomology notes and its not exactly my favorite subject so Im just going on pure memory here and it might be be completely correct

[Jeg]

I am looking for someone to help me find the answer to my problem.

I get an allergic reaction (anaphalectic) to ant stings.
I was wondering if there is a specific ant that creates this reaction ?
or could it that each human reacts to ant stings in different ways?

please reply

[canalon]

Allergic reaction means that it is your body that reacts to whatever is injected in you by the ants. So in this case the problem is you. Except if there is a desensitization protocol available (need to see a specialist) I'll be carefull before not to upset ants in the future if I were you.