Well, one morning this week, I had a look into The Proliferator’s nest chamber, and I saw her first pupa! As of today, she has eight, all of which are in silk cocoons. In the lower right corner of the screen, you can even see two of the larvae working on their cocoons.
As this colony grows, cocoon numbers will explode. Years later, once the colony gets large enough, they will begin to produce alates, which are reproductive queens and males. These alates will fly from the nest en masse for a few days after it rains during their nuptial season. The cocoons of these alates will be enormous, far larger than worker cocoons.
While I was reviewing the photos, I noticed that one of the larvae had moved its head in between two photos, which I found interesting. This indicates that some larvae are actively spinning silk, which means that more cocoons will appear soon.
You may have noticed that this larva is in a pile of sand. This is because the queen, The Proliferator, moved sand particles next to the larva so it could use the sand as scaffolding for spinning its silk cocoon. Once the larva has finished its cocoon, the queen will move it to her pupa pile.
This is a photo of a larva (the one in the bottom of the photo) which has a partially completed cocoon. Soon, this cocoon will be finished, and this larva will become another pupa. See ya’ next week!
