Post AkA2ASBJDyK4XRtfxw by hoco@tribe.net
(DIR) More posts by hoco@tribe.net
(DIR) Post #Ak9gsVzMETFA62uaeW by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-21T12:32:12Z
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There are many different casts or morphs of ant. These are not based on genetics, but on how the larvae is fed & cared for as it develops. The same DNA can produce a winged queen or a minor worker. nanitic - often minim workers this name is reserved for the ants from the queen's first batch of eggs. minim - the very smallest workers, often tasked with care of the queen and eggsminor - small workersmedian - medium sized workersmajor - large workerssolider - majors tasked with nest defense
(DIR) Post #Ak9h58Bo1pqs36kZcm by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-21T12:34:28Z
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replete - a major worker tasked with food storage, often with greatly distended gasterqueen - a major often with wings and larger ovaries and the impulse to leave the nest on a nuptial flightI love the name "minim" like they are so tiny that the word "minimum" is too long to describe them. Not all ants have all of these casts, some ants don't have casts at all.
(DIR) Post #Ak9j00VpLOzYhQnd2m by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-21T12:55:54Z
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@eric Nearly always the queen is alone and will raise the nanitics herself without any help (and completely using only her fat reserves, most ants are claustral meaning the queen will not leave the nest once she founds it.)It's a remarkable feat, but also explains why ant queens are so large and nanitics are typically small. If a queen can raise 2 or 3 little ants to forage for her and build the nest she has passed the toughest survival hurdle for new queens.
(DIR) Post #Ak9kXEXOJsIRhywFA8 by cshlan@dawdling.net
2024-07-21T13:13:05Z
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@futurebirdYou are making me want to keep ants. Stop it right now!
(DIR) Post #Ak9kjbs9O3djYTY9VQ by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-21T13:15:24Z
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Lasius brunneus are little brown garden ants that are not thought of as "having castes" ... most ant guides will describe all their workers as "all the same size."However, these photos from antiwiki show a size difference in workers of a mature colony vs. nanitic workers. The nanitic workers are small since their nutrition must come in its entirety from the body of the queen!Do you have enough mass in your body to make three or four people to help you out?I don't!https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Lasius_brunneus
(DIR) Post #Ak9kvYP273dcGkcrUu by NafiTheBear@bears.town
2024-07-21T13:17:31Z
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@futurebird it always fascinates me, that Ant colonies can increase the size of their workers in larvae state through different nutrition.
(DIR) Post #Ak9lAZQIbKpnmHNWE4 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-21T13:20:13Z
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@cshlan heh heh heh heh.... ahem.Oh no, I'm so sorry, how could this happen. I'd better not tell you about how they learn that you will feed them in certain locations over time... or about how with smaller ants you can see the little trails they make to the food your put out... oh jeez oh noo
(DIR) Post #Ak9ljk9igoU7CROZgO by cshlan@dawdling.net
2024-07-21T13:26:35Z
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@futurebird🤣❤️
(DIR) Post #Ak9maK947uzpsSA5GS by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-21T13:36:05Z
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@michaelgemar It's common to have many different castes of larvae in development. The choice about how they are fed is made by the workers, they have some sense of what the colony can afford to raise and what the colony needs. I would like to see an experiment where colonies of ants have the same resources but one is "attacked" by a threat more often ... will that cause them to raise majors? I don't know of any experiments that explore this but I'm looking.
(DIR) Post #Ak9mqMGtzLsl6bTNTs by GreenSkyOverMe@ohai.social
2024-07-21T13:38:52Z
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@futurebird I think you or your autocorrect misspelled soldier
(DIR) Post #Ak9mts9JvNLiqDbOvg by GreenSkyOverMe@ohai.social
2024-07-21T13:39:32Z
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@futurebird I have enough body mass to make 3 very thin people 😂
(DIR) Post #Ak9oYEkHQpb0SXhWaG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-21T13:58:04Z
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@medley56 They are definitely in a continuum. There are some really nice studies that show how there are locuses of traits ... but always ants that fall in between these attractors.
(DIR) Post #Ak9urU0HWgTr0akJk0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-21T15:08:45Z
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@DavidM_yeg Imagine being an *ant* so you are already tiny, but then you get called a "minim" not even a "minimum ant" just a lil "minim"it's just so... tinycore
(DIR) Post #Ak9wO6vsQO1exuo8v2 by benroyce@mastodon.social
2024-07-21T15:25:56Z
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@futurebird apparently the soldier ants inhibit production of new soldier ants with a pheromone. so when a lot of soldiers die the pheromone isn't produced and more soldiers emerge. this maintains the proper ratio of soldiers. also apparently the wing discs, previously thought to be a useless vestigial organ during larval growth, is somehow the mechanism for this regulation https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/useless-organ-determine-ants-grow-large-soldiers-180970505/
(DIR) Post #Ak9xYEgaYIyrrW34xU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-21T15:39:01Z
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*tiny ant voices*ant 1: She's a minim, she's so tinyant 2: I'm glad I'm not that tiny, I'm a majorminim: We are are literally ANTS
(DIR) Post #Ak9yX8sAmPsdUuVeFs by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-21T15:49:57Z
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@DavidM_yeg In honeypot ants they simply store fluid, such as plant nectar in their social stomach. Due to high sugar content it can last a long time like this. (and maybe also ant gut bacteria)I have read that in carpenter ants it's stored as fat... but this was just something someone on the ant forum said and now I need to look into it since I don't know how the ant could "share" the food later if it's fat cells...
(DIR) Post #AkA17LQHnOaWkqr8Km by ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us
2024-07-21T16:18:51Z
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"tinycore"I'm going to remember I heard that here first.
(DIR) Post #AkA2ASBJDyK4XRtfxw by hoco@tribe.net
2024-07-21T16:30:42Z
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@futurebird How do they decide how many of each to "make"?
(DIR) Post #AkA5jd1BE3FG95ciWG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-21T17:10:41Z
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@bytebro ... four legged ants ...