#dorymyrmex

In order to understand my shock and amazement at what is in this photo I took today, you need to know a little about ant reproduction. Basically, nearly all ants reproduce through "haplodiploidy." This is where the sex of an ant is determined by the number of chromosomes. Female ants (workers and queens) have twice as many chromosomes as males.

This means that female ants can lay egg without mating and they will all be males. Only after mating can queen produce the female workers that make up most of their colony.

So when I accidentally killed the queen of my Dorymyrmex bureni colony I thought the colony was doomed. Even though the queen left a large pile of eggs that would grow up when they were gone it would be the end.

But then a remarkable thing started to happen. Rather than raising the eggs left by the dead queen to be more workers the workers (still some 500 strong) raised some of these eggs to be queens. It was remarkable to watch.

But this isn't the "Miracle!"

An unfertilized queen does the colony no good. She can only produce more male workers. So when I saw batches of eggs in the colony I was interested, but I assumed they would all be male alates. It wouldn't save the colony.

But then I noticed this:

Parthenogenesis!?

Poor girl she bit the paint brush I use to help them to move and can’t seem to let go. I tried to help her by cutting the bristles off. But, I think her sisters should be able to help so I returned her, still clutching the bristles to the colony.

It seemed like a brave thing to do in the moment. Bite the evil paint brush and defend the colony! But it has gone all wrong.

I’ve filled an extra wide tube with wet sand and connected it to my Dorymyrmex bureni colony’s outworld. This is to simulate the sandy soil where they dig deep nests in the wild. I hope they will start digging— if they do I’ll connect a little nest on the other end so they can move in. The tube is vertical and three feet long. I will update if they make progress.

This is the bookshelf where they live. The tube runs down the shelf giving them a place to dig a very deep nest if they want to.

UPDATE: (10 min later) The first ant has discovered the sand tube! They always find anything new so quickly. She’s on her way back now to tell her sisters what she has found.

Watching them run down the long tube it’s hard not to think they seem excited. They always move with so much haste!

UPDATE II: Now there are five of them. Still deciding what to do. More and more ants make the long trek down the tube to check out the sand layer.

Ants don't give each other orders or commands. Every ants takes in the information and options based on the actions of her sisters and decides what she wants to do.

But they act together so well. Like they have a discord where they are discussing and planning everything. The trek to the sand tube is long. Longer than their whole outworld. They found the new region in mins. They are planning how to use it best even now.

This is the “splinter colony” I’ve isolated about 100 workers and 3 young, alate queens from the main colony (of bout 400?) That way, if the main colony raises males with their new heap of eggs, maybe these queens won’t realize they are their bothers? (horrible I know)

There is no documentation on how exactly these ants reproduce— only general ideas from related genuses. A long shot but worth a try.

Frantic activity continues at the cone ant compound. They are making a network of tunnels.

The species is Dorymyrmex bureni and they are the most tiny frantic ants that I keep. It's a big challenge keeping them inside an enclosure.