Study confirms decades-long assumption about rare ant species

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7777980

A new study has now provided the first proof of an ant species that lacks both workers and males and consists exclusively of queens.

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  • tristynalxander@mander.xyzEnglish
    7·
    2 days ago

    Vibes say these are more ant-parasites than parasite-ants, but they’re pretty interesting regardless. I was hoping to read about a clonal super-organism, but it seems like these supplant existing ant-queens, so I presume they are less collectivist than I was hoping. Still pretty cool.

    • piranhaconda@mander.xyzEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      “Now, the latest study shows that on top of killing the host queen, T kinomurai also reproduces asexually by producing clones of itself, and tricks the surviving host workers into rearing the offspring.”

      So do the clones then convince the workers to kill the original clone? Repeat until the colony falls apart because workers aren’t being produced?

      • tristynalxander@mander.xyzEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        I don’t know. I think queens have wings, so I presumed they flew off to kill a new ant nest, but maybe they split the nest or maybe there is some in-fighting. A good question for ant-biologists.