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Clonal raider ant

Clonal raider ant is a 4-star species card from the Information Age. Clonal raider ants have no queens: every worker lays eggs that hatch into copies of itself.

Bonus by grade

GradeCopies neededBonus
Common0+12% population growth
Uncommon2+21.6% population growth
Rare5+36% population growth
Epic10+54% population growth
Legendary20+84% population growth

Duplicates raise the grade: Uncommon at 2, Rare at 5, Epic at 10, Legendary at 20.

Codex

  1. Common: Ooceraea biroi has no queens.
  2. Uncommon: Workers reproduce by cloning.
  3. Rare: Colonies switch between egg-laying and foraging phases.
  4. Epic: They raid other ants' nests for brood to eat.
  5. Legendary: Scientists use them to study how ants behave.

Field notes are reviewed regularly. Spot something wrong? Tell us.

Field guide

SizeWorkers about 2 mm long and stocky
ColonyAbout a hundred to several hundred workers
QueensNo queens; every worker can lay eggs
NestUnderground, in leaf litter and soil
DietBrood (eggs, larvae and pupae) of other ant species
DefenceNo sting; heavily armoured, blind and guided by scent
ActiveCycles of about two weeks of egg-laying and two weeks of raiding
LifespanNot well known; one generation takes about two months
Where it livesNative to mainland Asia; now on many tropical and subtropical islands

Did you know?

  • Its genome has more scent-receptor genes than any other insect sequenced so far.
  • Workers kill sisters that do not keep to the colony's egg-laying cycle.
  • It is easy to keep in a lab, so it is a favourite model for studying social behaviour.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org, antwiki.org

Codex sets