245 replies to this topic

[FSTP]

 

I'm pretty sure any worker can become a replete at any point in its life time. It doesn't have to do so as soon as its eclosed.

No, they do have to be fed before their exoskeleton hardens. If a normal worker was to eat as much as a replete can, its gaster would burst.

 

 

I'm going to respectively disagree. The exoskeleton does not stretch. Not in repletes or any ant for that matter.  The abdomen of the replete is comprised of abdominal tergites and sternites primarily, these are connected through a flexible interconnecting membrane. Its is this membrane that is stretching to accommodate the enlarging of the gaster as a whole. It takes time for a worker to stretch to become a full replete They've eclosed and "hardened" by the time this is taking place. 

 

I could be wrong but that's how I see it.

[Rstheant]

This becoming a good debate topic!

[Guy_Fieri]

Well the membrane does not stretch either as far as I know. An adult insect has a finite amount of membrane, and it does not really expand, they just have some extra folded beneath the plates on their exoskeleton. This explains why an insect can gain significant size from one feeding. But someone may have to personally see this process happen in ants, and it may vary between different genuses.

Edited by Guy_Fieri, December 18 2018 - 3:11 PM.

[FSTP]

Well the membrane does not stretch either as far as I know.

 

Of course the membrane strecthes, that is literally one of the functions of a memnbrane, lol.

[Guy_Fieri]

Well the membrane can “stretch”, but only enough so that the insect can move, not in the context we are speaking of though with repletes. And even so, the membrane folds when the insect is standing still, it only fully extends if the insect is moving, and it can not stretch beyond that. Insects can not grow their exoskeleton and membranes larger once they have reached their full size. They physically can not create new membrane. That is why an insect does not ever fully heal from an injury. They can only use their own dried hemolymph to prevent more blood loss and infection, because they can’t create new membrane to repair themselves.

[FSTP]

Now you are speaking in generalities. I'm not speaking about some random street insect as you are. I'm specificly speaking about Mymecocystus spp. that have adapted to swell to these sizes. if the membrane was just folded up in-between the tergal/sternal plates  you would expect repletes that have been drained to be able to shape their gaster to its smaller size. However they can't the membranous tissue just sags. Because the interconnecting membrane has stretched far beyond the original size when the ant was not functioning as a replete.

 

Edit: Perhaps if you want to continue this disscussion, start another thread. I don't want to flood Drews great journal with a constant back and forth.

Edited by FSTP, December 18 2018 - 8:22 PM.

[Rstheant]

I agree

[YsTheAnt]

Are these bigger/smaller than Myrmecocystus testaceus, and by how much? I really want some larger pots so looking for a suitable species...

[nurbs]

Mexicanus are the largest honeypots in CA, probably the largest honeypots ever. They look just like N. navajo, but bigger.

 

Are these bigger/smaller than Myrmecocystus testaceus, and by how much? I really want some larger pots so looking for a suitable species...

[YsTheAnt]

Okay, thanks. How do Myrmecocystus testaceus measure up against these and navajos? Only pots we got up here other than those ellusive mimicus that no one can find queens of...

[dspdrew]

The worker size for mature colonies generally goes like this: M. navajo < M. testaceus < M. mexicanus. Some can be pretty close in size sometimes though.

[YsTheAnt]

Exactly what I needed. Thank you!

[dspdrew]

[B_rad0806]

Where did you get the Scorpion?

[dspdrew]

Where did you get the Scorpion?

 

Desert.

[Rstheant]

Where else would he get it!? Oh wait, his backyard! He must have a lot of ants! Well duh!!

[B_rad0806]

Where did you get the Scorpion?

Desert.

Was it your pet or something?

[Rstheant]

Yes it was his pet. He has a off topic journal about it.

[TennesseeAnts]

Update?

[dspdrew]

Update 11-7-2019
 
I still have both colonies, but the one in the vertical prototype formicarium is not doing well. It's been losing workers like crazy. I'm not sure what's going on, but every time I look at it, there is a pile of dead workers in the foraging area.

 

You can see piles of dead workers here. I've probably lost 75% of the colony by now. It's down to about 200 workers, and pretty much all the repletes are gone.

 

 

 

 

I'm guessing maybe the black mold that has been growing inside the nest over the years might have something to do with it.

 

 

 

Even though tons of workers are dying, the queen still continues to produce like crazy.

 

 

 

For the first time with this colony, I decided to clean out the nest in hopes that this will stop the colony from dying.

 

I dumped them all in this tub while I cleaned the nest out.

 

 

 

 

Here's the nest all cleaned up. The only thing left now are are few small permanent stains.

 

 

 

While I was at it, I upgraded the foraging area by replacing the Hydrostone floor with the sand-covered resin I use in all my starter formicariums.

 

 

 

I dumped the colony back into the formicarium, but the weird thing is it's been three days and they are still all sitting in the same place; none of them have moved back into the nest yet. I'm thinking there might be something wrong with this colony. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

 

 

 

 

There is good news though. The biggest colony housed in the giant vase setup is producing like CRAZY again, and there are almost no deaths at all now.

 

Here are a few new pictures of them. You can see how perfectly clear the glass is on their chambers. At the moment a few had some condensation, but there is almost no dirt on them at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They keep all the cocoons in the top chamber just below the surface where it's dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Way deep down you can find the queen.

 

 

 

This is probably going to be a third personal colony of these I'll be keeping. It started as an experiment to see how deep the queen would dig, but I waited so long before putting her in here that she just didn't feel like digging much anymore. It took her days to finally dig a shallow nest. She survived though, and actually produced a lot of workers.

 

 

 

Once the workers finally made their way out of the nest, the digging started. They now have dug a few chambers and have gone down pretty deep.