One day, while walking with Mom, I came across a raid conducted by a colony of slave-making Formica ants on a nest of Formica subsericea. Among the chaos, I saw some raiders bringing pilfered host brood back to their nest. These seemed only to be grabbing larvae, pupae, and the occasional host worker, which are likely easier to transport rapidly than eggs. I also saw host workers fleeing the onslaught in the opposite direction, obviously to escape their attackers. Among these workers was a queen, who I snapped up with as many host workers as possible to see if I could jumpstart the colony again. After getting home, I attempted to recombine all of the ants. However, much to my annoyance, the queen was the one ant who wasn’t accepted into the nest, forcing me to put her in a separate test tube. The queen was unharmed and shortly after laid a fresh batch of eggs.
Below are pictures of the queen along with some more pictures of the raid.
