One Antennae Queen
Amongst the pile of brood I was able to capture some footage of the Queen.
The other Queen doesn't seem to be around anymore.
I haven't seen any signs of the other Queen on terms of living, or any bits of carcass, to show she is dead.
The Queen here only has one antennae.
Both Queens used to communicate vigorously with their antennae ,but maybe wires got
crossed.
Maybe the summit lead to a battle. The resulting victor carrying the scars of battle?
Cool, what species is this?
Camponotus
How long does a queen usually live and do the workers live as long?
Queens can live up to avg 8 - 12 years I think. But different species have different levels of constitution & dietary needs.
Allegedly they can live up to 30 years (just did a Google search) but the colony is susceptible to environment conditions, competition & viruses.
Queens from this species tend to have a few deaths before they succeed in founding a colony.
Once they become established the chances of survival increases.
Wow! I always imagined them to be much shorter lived.