The mating flight of Messor aciculatus

Messor aciculatus, the strangest Messor species I know of in China. It does not have multiple worker subcaste that is common among species in the same genus.

This species is not large (similar to common Formica species, or even smaller), reproduces surprisingly slowly, and has a low population ceiling, with a worker-to-queen ratio of only about 70:1 in a mature colony. However, each nest of this species can accommodate multiple queens simultaneously, and to some extent, the population can be increased.

The numerous drawbacks of these ants mean that their care experience is inevitably inferior to that of mainstream Messor species on the market, such as M. barbarus or M. structor. Even in communities like r/antkeeping, it is extremely rare to find records of their care. The limited experience I have gained is primarily from ant keeper groups in mainland China and Japan.

Even so, M. aciculatus remains quite attractive to me, mainly because of its many unique behaviors that are extremely rare among Messor species, including extreme polygyne; cooperation among queens and recruitment of worker ants during the initial establishment of the nest; and even its periodic egg-laying.

On the other hand, because my current academic pressure makes it difficult for me to care for ant colonies that are too large, the low individual size of M. aciculatus is actually very appealing to me.

In North China, M. aciculatus engages in nuptial flights every April and May, mostly occurring at dusk on clear days after rain. At this time, worker ants clear a flat area at the nest entrance to serve as a "landing pad." Generally, male ants take off first, followed slightly later by females. They mate either in flight or after landing (based on personal experience, it seems more common to mate after landing? This could also be because I cannot observe mating in the air). The male ant dies shortly after mating, and the female breaks off her wings and finds a safe area to dig a burrow and build her nest.

(Taken on April 26, 2026, at approximately 6:00 PM, at the West Campus of China Agricultural University.)

Finally, I captured nearly 10 queens and raised them together with 2 workers in test tubes. Interestingly, unlike other ants, the new queens of M. aciculatus can be raised with worker ants from other colonies. The worker ants almost never attack the queen ants (or attack very very limitedly, but the attacks usually stop quickly).

In areas with large populations of M. aciculatus, during the nuptial flight season, you can often see new queens automatically forming teams after mating and then digging burrows to build nests together. Amazingly, they can even "recruit" a small number of workers to work with them! The mechanism behind this is still unclear, but perhaps this behavior allows them to rapidly increase their workload in a short period of time and increase the queen's survival rate.

(Image source: http://www.antuni.com/?p=309, clearly showing the "recruited" worker ants.)