9 replies to this topic

[kellakk]

1-15-15

 

I forgot to start this journal earlier, so I'm starting it now.  I caught two Solenopsis invicta queens under rocks.  One was at Blast Soccer Complex in San Bernardino, and the other was in Chino Hills State Park.  I set them each up in a normal test tube setup.

 

Edited by kellakk, June 10 2015 - 9:49 PM.

[kellakk]

2-4-15

 

They each laid a sizable (~30-40) pile of eggs.  I gave them each a drop of honey for some more energy.  One of the queens was having trouble organising her eggs. She scattered most of them around the tube, with a couple piled on the water cotton.  The other made a very neat, orderly pile a short distance from her water cotton.

 

Edited by kellakk, March 21 2015 - 9:19 AM.

[kellakk]

3-17-15

 

One of the queens kept eating her eggs and then laying more.  She died today.  The other queen now has 3 pupae ready to eclose (darkening pigment), a few more pupae, a couple larvae, and another big pile of eggs.

[drtrmiller]

The queens that scatter their eggs have bad genes and almost always die.  I read that somewhere in Tschinkel's The Fire Ants, a must read for anyone interested in Solenopsis.

Edited by drtrmiller, March 17 2015 - 10:18 AM.

[dspdrew]

Wow I've never head that before. Sure sounds plausible though.

[Miles]

Wow I've never head that before. Sure sounds plausible though.

I've heard it too - same thing with Tetramorium. 

[kellakk]

Yeah, that was the one that died too.  Is this true for other species as well, or is it just S. invicta?

[kellakk]

3-21-15

 

The one queen's first nanitics eclosed.

[kellakk]

4-23-15

 

This queen has 10 workers now and some have started to forage.

[kellakk]

6-10-15

 

The colony has about 12 workers and a large pile of brood.  I caught an alate on May 27 wandering by my front porch in the late morning.  She now has a sizable egg pile and a few larvae