Queen ant re-grows wings!

[Empi]

So I was watching my ants today and I noticed somthing very weird. My queen which I caught under a rock with her small colony seems to have re-grown her wings. I have never heard of this and did not know it could happen. I am still ivestagating at this point for any other possabilitys. I do have some pupa in there which could have hatched into winged ants I suppose. If they are infact hatched pupa, what should I do with them. Do they serve a purpose within the colony or are they just breeders? Can they breed within the colony or do they have to fly for that? I have only seen one at this point and it appears to be the queen.

 

[G. Carnell]

this is very farfetched, and im not even sure if it applies, but ill say it anyway, incase it applies for ants too

in Termite colonies, winged immatures can become pseudo-queens when the real queen dies, so they become useful

 

[Wade]

My guess is that the winged ant is a new reproductive, either a virgin queen or else a male. In most species, they have to leave to reproduce, although some species have multiple queens (the introduced fire ant, for one). In order to grow new wings, I assume the queen would have to molt, and I don't think any insect that goes through full metamorphasis molts after reaching the ultimate instar.

Wade

 

[Stylopidae]

I'm guessing it's a drone. In most ant species, the drone has wings.

 

[Jesse607]

It is impossible for a holometabolous (complete metamorphosis i.e. egg-larvae-pupae-adult) insect to regrow wings. Straight and simple!

 

[Empi]

Yeah I noticed a couple more in there today. So it is not the queen like I thought. They look like the queen though and not like the males I've seen. should I let them go or what. Will they just die in there?

 

[Stylopidae]

I don't know too much about ants, but if I were you, I'd just let them go when you see other flying ants outside.

Otherwise, I'd imagine they will remain in there until they die and when they do the colony will dispose of them.

On the other hand, I guess that's a good thing. It means the colony has settled in. I think :?

 

[Shajay]

Yeah, even I had it once before, I collected a queen ant which had no wings and after few weeks it had wings again, even I had a doubt about it, but I think it's true that they can regrow their wings, because I had no food left for then and even the conditions weren't right for them to survive, so they regrew their wings so that they can fly to a better place to survive.

 

[MrGhostMantis]

Yeah, even I had it once before, I collected a queen ant which had no wings and after few weeks it had wings again, even I had a doubt about it, but I think it's true that they can regrow their wings, because I had no food left for then and even the conditions weren't right for them to survive, so they regrew their wings so that they can fly to a better place to survive.

Very, very old thread. Please check the dates on the replies before commenting.

 

[myrmecophile]

Old thread but the answer is the same, it is not gonna happen, wings will not regrow.

 

[Shajay]

Very, very old thread. Please check the dates on the replies before commenting.

Yea, but there is no point in answering by seeing dates, the answer will be the same and the curiosity about the natural world drives me to answer no matter what the dates are

 

[Shajay]

Old thread but the answer is the same, it is not gonna happen, wings will not regrow.

Yea, even I would have said the same answer nearly a month ago, but now I witnessed it with my own eyes, I just had one queen ant( i don't know the species, but it was a big black ant), I left few drops of honey and some water, but it didn't have any space to lay eggs and start a colony, so I guess it regrew its wings. I have read that many ant species have some stored energy to start a colony so that the queen ant can survive without food until the first batch of workers develops, so maybe the ant used part of that energy to regrow its wing.

 

[Ponerinecat]

Yea, even I would have said the same answer nearly a month ago, but now I witnessed it with my own eyes, I just had one queen ant( i don't know the species, but it was a big black ant), I left few drops of honey and some water, but it didn't have any space to lay eggs and start a colony, so I guess it regrew its wings. I have read that many ant species have some stored energy to start a colony so that the queen ant can survive without food until the first batch of workers develops, so maybe the ant used part of that energy to regrow its wing.

No, that's just not how it works. Ants are incapable of growing after they reach the adult stage and any damaged body parts or clipped limbs cannot grow back in a shed. An alate tearing off her wings and becoming a dealate is a permanent move. Stored energy is placed in the stomach, which is filled up by her mother colony and her now unused wing muscles, which are literally liquidated and digested to provide the protein needed to raise hymenopteran larvae. (How is she gonna regrow wings if her wing muscles have been dissolved?)

 

[Ponerinecat]

Assuming your observations are truthful, possible explanations might be an infertile queen or eggs laid by workers(yes, they can lay eggs.) Ant males are haploid, and are the only things that can hatch from unfertilized eggs if they arent used as food (trophic eggs.) Ant males are also winged for the most part, with a few notable exceptions. And considering how often I see males and even plain old workers identified as queens by people not very experienced with ants, it's a plausible explanation that you're just seeing males. Again, the internal anatomy and biology of ants is not necessarily something I'm well read up on, but I can say with almost complete confidence that a dealate regrowing wings is simply impossible.

 

[schmiggle]

Expecting a queen ant to regrow wings is like expecting a double amputee to regrow legs. The developmental pathway just isn't there after the terminal molt. I agree with @Ponerinecat and several others that the most likely explanation is that you're seeing males.

 

[Jesse607]

Yea, even I would have said the same answer nearly a month ago, but now I witnessed it with my own eyes, I just had one queen ant( i don't know the species, but it was a big black ant), I left few drops of honey and some water, but it didn't have any space to lay eggs and start a colony, so I guess it regrew its wings. I have read that many ant species have some stored energy to start a colony so that the queen ant can survive without food until the first batch of workers develops, so maybe the ant used part of that energy to regrow its wing.

It's just not possible, period. I suggest you find some of the many entomology textbooks, or other literature on insect physiology and development and do some reading. There may be countless explanations of why or how you seemed to observe something that can not happen, we can only speculate, however as an entomologist I can assure you that it is impossible for an ant (or any insect for that matter) to regrow its wings after losing them.

 

[XxSpiderQueenxX]

Yea, even I would have said the same answer nearly a month ago, but now I witnessed it with my own eyes, I just had one queen ant( i don't know the species, but it was a big black ant), I left few drops of honey and some water, but it didn't have any space to lay eggs and start a colony, so I guess it regrew its wings. I have read that many ant species have some stored energy to start a colony so that the queen ant can survive without food until the first batch of workers develops, so maybe the ant used part of that energy to regrow its wing.

Queen ants dont need that much space to start up a colony. After the insect has hatched from its cocoon, and chews off its wings, they are gone. No way they can grow back. Most queen ants do not need food in the founding stages of the colony, and you only need to provide it when they get their first workers (nanitics). Exceptions would be semi-claustral species like some Pogonomyrmex sp., etc.

 

[Iamconstantlyhappy]

What kind of ants are we talking about here?