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Photo#44974
Ants - Pseudomyrmex gracilis

Ants - Pseudomyrmex gracilis
Lady Lake, Lake County, Florida, USA
January 17, 2006
Very small nest of about 8 to 10.

Moved
Moved from Pseudomyrmex.

Very interesting
Because it shows the polygynous habits of this Pseudomyrmex species. The female in the foreground has only one wing (the right posterior) left. That means that, rather than founding a nest of her own, she would remain in this small "annex" as a supernumerary queen. At any rate, she can hardly be the mother of the larvae which can be seen there: the workers probably brought this brood from a parent nest in the vicinity.
This "budding" behavior reminds of some other invasive species like Linepithema humile, Monomorium pharaonis or Wasmannia auropunctata, and could explain why this species is now thriving in Florida.

 
Thank you
very much for explaining what is going on here, I had been very curious as to why such a small nest.

 
Probably not polygyny and no budding.
I have dissected quite a few nests of various North American (including introduced) Pseudomyrmex spp. and never found more than one functional (physogastric) queen. Sexual caste females that become (accidentally?) dealated remain in the nest behaving as workers, as far as I can tell. Colonies tend to be small in this species, rarely exceeding a few hundred individuals. These are nesting in a human-made structure, an interesting find. While colonies often inhabit several different cavities, colony foundation is by single mated females, with no recorded instances of budding, but they are indeed thriving in Florida, though apparently without displacing native species.

This small colony is a colony fragment, almost certainly with other small portions of the larger colony in natural and artificial cavities nearby.

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