Over the past week, I was in Oregon, so I wasn’t able to see my ants. It was slightly annoying since two of my N. parvula queens were about to have nanitics. I decided to feed all of my nylanderia queens honey to ensure none would die while I was not home, and when I came home, two of them had nanitics. These queens have fewer than ten nanitics, but they should have more soon. The nanitics are significantly smaller than the queens, who are themselves tiny.
The first queen has roughly six nanitics and several pupae, which are clearly visible in the second image. The nanitics are probably not old enough to consume food on their own, so I will provide them with food in a few days.
The second queen with nanitics has been particularly busy stuffing her nanitics with honey, evident by the distended gasters of two of her nanitics. She has an unknown number of nanitics, but hopefully, I will be able to accurately count them soon.
