Queen Cells

[Acromyrmexbob]

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this but I wanted to share an observation I have made based on several colonies and something they have done which, on reflection, I know I have seen many times but only now stopped and noticed. When you fill a container with fungus the ants remove a great quantity of it both to get rid of the waste and also to create space. However, for the queen, they often create a deep pocket for her. I wondered if this was because in a small container there is very little room for her so they make her a space or if this is down to defense and the ease of defending a buried 'cell'.
Anyway I have seen this is fungus filled chambers in nature also so it is not a behaviour that is restricted to captive colonies.









Interested if anyone else can confirm the regular existance of 'Queen Cells'.

[Formica123]

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this but I wanted to share an observation I have made based on several colonies and something they have done which, on reflection, I know I have seen many times but only now stopped and noticed. When you fill a container with fungus the ants remove a great quantity of it both to get rid of the waste and also to create space. However, for the queen, they often create a deep pocket for her. I wondered if this was because in a small container there is very little room for her so they make her a space or if this is down to defense and the ease of defending a buried 'cell'.
Anyway I have seen this is fungus filled chambers in nature also so it is not a behaviour that is restricted to captive colonies.









Interested if anyone else can confirm the regular existance of 'Queen Cells'.

My atta have created one the last few days, I thought they were just stupid

[Atta solider]

My atta do that for her they make a chamber and she stays there and they build the fungus around her and couple hours later she's gone covered up buy fungus

[Acromyrmexbob]

Yes, they like to hide the queen in larger colonies! Can be difficult to know where she is. When we dig wild colonies with multiple gardens we generally find the queen in the garden with most brood.