Founding a colony sealed away with no foraging — the queen raises her first workers entirely on her own body reserves.
Safely down, she tears off her four wings — she will never need them again. The big muscles that powered them are now dead weight, so her body dissolves them into energy and protein for her first brood.
She sinks a narrow shaft and hollows out a small chamber, then plugs the entrance from the inside. From here until her first workers emerge, she is sealed in and completely alone.
Walled in with no way out, she will neither eat nor forage. Everything her first brood needs comes from her own body — stored fat and her dissolved wing muscles. This is “claustral” founding.
dealationnaniticcallowtrophallaxisalatenuptial flighteclosioncocoon