27 replies to this topic

[Del]

1. Location of collection: Sydney, NSW
2. Date of collection: 17/9-5/10 2016
3. Habitat of collection: Urban parkland
4. Length (from head to gaster): 7-10mm

 

I got into ant keeping too late to catch this species flying last year, so I've been pretty vigilant now it has been warming up around here recently. So far I've got 9 of these girls, most of which have 1-10 eggs. I'll have to get a wingless fruit fly culture going if I'm to keep up with the number of semi claustrals I have at the moment. 

 

Some of the queens seem substantially smaller, darker and less metallic than the others. I might have two species mixed together, or there may be variation within castes in this species.

 

 

Edited by Del, April 26 2017 - 11:39 PM.

[AntsMAN]

In my opinion one of the most beautiful species.

[Enderz]

Lucky!

[Goldsystem]

Wow very cool!

[CallMeCraven]

Those are some beautiful pics of a beautiful ant. Congrats on catching so many seemingly successful queens! Good luck feeding all those new hungry mouths and your future colonies!

[Del]

A quick update- I lost a couple of these queens, but most of the survivors have pupae now. Some of them, lots of pupae. I'll try for some better photos once they start to eclose

[img]

[Alabama Anter]

Holy cow! That's sick!

[Leo]

awesome

[Del]

It's been a while so I thought I should add something to this thread.  I've sold/given away all my colonies bar one which is up to about 25 workers and is doing great. Also, while I thought these were Rhytidoponera metallica, I have doubts about this ID now. R. metallica rarely have queens and colonies reproduce via budding. However, it is probably a member of the same species-group.

 

They should be ready to move to a formicarium soon, so I took some closeup shots while they were in the test tube.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Del, April 26 2017 - 11:42 PM.

[Licespray]

She's beautiful!

[JackPearl]

How's the colony now?

[Del]

Hi Jack, they seem to be doing well. Lots of eggs and new larvae in the warmer weather recently. The larvae that overwintered have almost all pupated as well.

 

https://www.instagra...y=aeacusdesigns

[JackPearl]

Hi Jack, they seem to be doing well. Lots of eggs and new larvae in the warmer weather recently. The larvae that overwintered have almost all pupated as well.
 
https://www.instagra...y=aeacusdesigns

Awesome!

[Pleming]

So jealous!

[Del]

It has been great ant weather in Sydney lately and I have a caught a bunch more of these queens without trying very much. I always carry around 4 or 5 small containers and I have typically filling them all on the walk to the bus on my way to work.

 

 

[Mettcollsuss]

It's been a while so I thought I should add something to this thread.  I've sold/given away all my colonies bar one which is up to about 25 workers and is doing great. Also, while I thought these were Rhytidoponera metallica, I have doubts about this ID now. R. metallica rarely have queens and colonies reproduce via budding. However, it is probably a member of the same species-group.

 

They should be ready to move to a formicarium soon, so I took some closeup shots while they were in the test tube.

 

 

 

 

 

What does 'budding' mean in this case? I've never heard it used in terms of ants, and I'm curious to find out.

[JackPearl]

It's been a while so I thought I should add something to this thread.  I've sold/given away all my colonies bar one which is up to about 25 workers and is doing great. Also, while I thought these were Rhytidoponera metallica, I have doubts about this ID now. R. metallica rarely have queens and colonies reproduce via budding. However, it is probably a member of the same species-group.
 
They should be ready to move to a formicarium soon, so I took some closeup shots while they were in the test tube.
 

 

 

 

 

What does 'budding' mean in this case? I've never heard it used in terms of ants, and I'm curious to find out.

Similarly to in other animals, a part of the "Animal" or in this case, the colony splits off and starts a new colony. They do this by they're ability to mate inside the nest, so that a recently mated queen and a cohort of males and brood can simply walk off and start a new nest. It's a lot safer for the queen and colony, and thus, seems to be fairly successful.

[Del]

My understanding is that this species primarily reproduces via gamergates in the wild, so they don't even need to have a queen. With enough gamergate workers, a satellite nest can just keep expanding as though they were the main colony.

[antaioli]

Nice photos!
What have you been feeding this species?
Specifically during the founding stages?

[Del]

They eat most insect proteins, but I generally give them mosquitoes or fruit flies during the founding stage