The method used by Anergates queens to enter the Tetramorium nests is not clear. Some experiments have been done to analise the adoption proccess.
Anergates queen tries to enter the nest without being noticed, or bites a Tetramorium worker antenna which introduces her into the nest 1.
In almost all of the observations Anergates queen is killed and dismembered by Tetramorium workers 2. Nonetheless Crawley 3got a queen to be adopted. When a week passed, Tetramorium host workers killed and dismembered all of the males and queens of their own species. After this, the Anergates queen showed typical physiogastry, but died before laying eggs. Based on this experience, Donisthorpe 4 proposed this method as the standard nest foundation in this specie.
Most accpeted theory in our days is that Anergates exploits orphan Tetramorium nests where the queen does has died but some workers still survive 5, but no larvae is at the nest [Buschinger com pers.]. This can give us an idea of the extreme scarcity of this species

1. 1. Donisthorpe H .  1915.  British ants, their life-history and classification . :xv+379pp.
2. 2. Creighton WS .  1950.  The ants of North America. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. 104:1-585+57lam.
3. 3. Crawley WC .  1912.  Anergates atratulus, Schenk., a British ant, and the acceptance of a queen by Tetramorium caespitum, L. Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation. 24:218-219.
4. 4. Donisthorpe H .  1915.  British ants, their life-history and classification . :xv+379pp.
5. 5. Czechowski W, Radchenko A, Czechowska W .  2002.  The ants of Poland. :200pp.