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VoidElecent & Bracchymyrmex: Combined Ant Keeping Journal


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#1 Offline VoidElecent - Posted May 21 2017 - 8:35 AM

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We haven't really taken the time or effort to make journals for every ant we catch, so the purpose of this thread will be to provide a little bit of a preview on what ants we keep, and hopefully open up a little room for discussion.

 

Here's a list of the species we have:

  • Camponotus pennsylvanicus (4x) - Yellow
  • Nylanderia cf. flavipes (10x) - Blue
  • Prenolepis imparis (15x) - Green
  • Crematogaster cf. cerasi (1x) - Red
  • Brachymyrmex depilis (1x) - Purple
  • Lasius cf. neoniger (1x) - Yellow/Blue
  • Myrmica spp. (2x) - NA
  • Nylanderia faisonensis (1x) - NA

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1. Camponotus pennsylvanicus:

 

We have four black carpenter ant colonies; one of which was found in a log earlier this year (late March), the colony had several workers, but we only managed to capture one and a large pile of eggs. I felt bad that we took the colony and not the other workers, but they seem to be doing alright now. They have lots of eggs and larva, so I suspect they're starting to pick themselves back up once again. The other three queens were caught during nuptial flights this year; one was caught in late April, and she now has a large pile of eggs. The other two were caught a few days ago, and neither of them have eggs. One of the queens I caught Friday night still has it's wings and loves to pull at the cotton in her tube- there's a high chance she isn't fertilized.

 

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2. Nylanderia cf. flavipes:

 

We caught several Nylanderia queens during an afternoon flight at our high school a few days ago- within hours of putting them in their tubes, a number of them had already laid quite a few eggs each. These have to be one of my favourite species; I love their size, coloration and energy. We decided to test their polygyny and put two of them in the same tube, and they're thriving!

 

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3. Prenolepis imparis:

 

Very interesting ants indeed. We caught three during late February, and the rest on April Eleventh. 12 of them are thriving; they have eggs & some of them even have larva. We put two in the same tube, to test their polygyny as we did with the Nylanderia. One is very peculiar, though; she seems to be devouring her eggs as soon as they come out- we're not too sure what to do with her.

 

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4. Crematogaster cf. cerasi:

 

I caught several acrobat ant queens during September of last year, only one of them is alive now. It seems as though they are very prone to stress, so you have to be really careful when caring for them. Regardless, she's my favorite queen that we have and I can;t wait until her nanitics finally eclose.

 

P1080021_zpsjw7dwcun.jpg

 

5. Brachymyrmex depilis:

 

We caught this queen during October of last year, we were walking our dog and couldn't walk any further without being pelted in the face with flying alates. We didn't even know they were ants at the time, but we reluctantly picked one up and stuffed her in a test tube set up. She now has several eggs and larva. Her gaster is very bloated though; there's a chance she's eating some of her eggs, as well.

 

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6. Lasius cf. neoniger:

 

I caught this dealate walking around on pavement in September of last year, she's arguably the healthiest queen we have. She has larva and pupae, and I'm hoping they'll eclose one of these days.

 

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7. Myrmica Spp.:

 

This one's interesting. Bracc. caught her in April, supposedly foraging for her colony. We put her in a normal test tube set up attached to a small outworld, and we occasionally feed her fruit flies, chunks of spider and sugar water. She's brought graisn of sand from th outworld into her tube, and has been eating the protein. Yesterday, we checked her chamber a little more closelsy and noticed a pile of 7 or 8 eggs that she was sitting on, we were frankly very surprised and can't wait for them to develop a little more. We have another queen of (presumably) the same species, who hasn;t laid yet but is also alive and well.

 

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8. Nylanderia faisonensis

 

We caught this entire colony in a chunk of rotten wood about a month and a half ago. I would have feltl very bad about taking the colony from the wild, but we seem to have captured most , if not all, of the workers and the entire brood pile. We also brought chunks of rotten wood from their previous home, so they didn't have to feel completely overwhelmed when we introduced them to their new setup. This colony is thriving- we've been providing them protein and sugar water, and they seem to highly appreciate it.

 

P1080027_zpscmlatvfn.jpg


Edited by VoidElecent, May 21 2017 - 9:24 AM.

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#2 Offline Myrmidon - Posted May 21 2017 - 9:56 AM

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Great pics! I love the color coding. Good luck with them!


Keeper of:

 

Prenolepis imparis (4 founding queens)

Camponotus pennsylvanicus (5 founding queens)

Reticulitermes flavipes (3 pairs, subterranean termite)

 


#3 Offline VoidElecent - Posted May 21 2017 - 10:08 AM

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Great pics! I love the color coding. Good luck with them!

 

Thank you! :)



#4 Offline Nathant2131 - Posted May 21 2017 - 10:14 AM

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I might try those color stickers out for myself.

#5 Offline Aaron567 - Posted May 21 2017 - 10:20 AM

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Your Lasius cf. neoniger has naked pupae?



#6 Offline T.C. - Posted May 21 2017 - 10:20 AM

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Wow, them are some great pictures and great species. Good luck with the Camponotous Pennsylvanicus. I never really had any success starting them with just a queen. What are you using to take those photos?
“If I am killed for simply living, let death be kinder than man.” -Althea Davis

#7 Offline Nathant2131 - Posted May 21 2017 - 10:32 AM

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I am interested in the camera (and lens?) you use as well.


Edited by Nathant2131, May 21 2017 - 10:34 AM.


#8 Offline VoidElecent - Posted May 21 2017 - 11:44 AM

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I am interested in the camera (and lens?) you use as well.

 

Wow, them are some great pictures and great species. Good luck with the Camponotous Pennsylvanicus. I never really had any success starting them with just a queen. What are you using to take those photos?

 

Interesting that you asked; I've never really thought of this camera as particularly effective; I've actually been considering purchasing another one! The name of the camera is 'Panasonic DMC-ZS1", it's just a regular point and shoot I found in the basement; it has a 25 mm wide 10 megapixel lens.


Edited by VoidElecent, May 21 2017 - 11:44 AM.


#9 Offline VoidElecent - Posted May 21 2017 - 11:46 AM

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Your Lasius cf. neoniger has naked pupae?

 

Yes, she does. Is this bad?



#10 Offline Nathant2131 - Posted May 21 2017 - 11:48 AM

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Wow, that thing takes better pictures than my Canon Powershot SX120 IS. Maybe it's just me that stinks at photography.  :P



#11 Offline VoidElecent - Posted May 21 2017 - 11:50 AM

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Wow, that thing takes better pictures than my Canon Powershot SX120 IS. Maybe it's just me that stinks at photography.  :P

 

It has a Macro Zoom mode that I use, but I don't know how much of a difference that makes. I've found that this camera tends to take higher quality photos of slightly larger objects, like Camponotus workers or queens, for example. It has a little bit of trouble focusing on smaller ants, hence the blurry photo of our Brachymyrmex queen.


Edited by VoidElecent, May 21 2017 - 11:52 AM.

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#12 Offline Aaron567 - Posted May 21 2017 - 2:42 PM

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Your Lasius cf. neoniger has naked pupae?

 

Yes, she does. Is this bad?

 

 

It isn't bad, I guess it's just uncommon. 



#13 Offline VoidElecent - Posted May 21 2017 - 3:00 PM

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Your Lasius cf. neoniger has naked pupae?

 

Yes, she does. Is this bad?

 

 

It isn't bad, I guess it's just uncommon. 

 

 

Interesting, I never knew that.



#14 Offline T.C. - Posted May 21 2017 - 3:00 PM

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Your Lasius cf. neoniger has naked pupae?

 
Yes, she does. Is this bad?
 
It isn't bad, I guess it's just uncommon.

I only see this in founding colonies. In fact after the colony gets their first workers I've never observed this behavior. I researched it 1-2 years ago and I believe the larvae need pressure put on them to spin their cocoon. So if the queen doesn't do this, then they just don't have one. It's no big deal if they don't however.
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“If I am killed for simply living, let death be kinder than man.” -Althea Davis

#15 Offline VoidElecent - Posted May 22 2017 - 6:10 PM

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Your Lasius cf. neoniger has naked pupae?

 
Yes, she does. Is this bad?
 
It isn't bad, I guess it's just uncommon.

I only see this in founding colonies. In fact after the colony gets their first workers I've never observed this behavior. I researched it 1-2 years ago and I believe the larvae need pressure put on them to spin their cocoon. So if the queen doesn't do this, then they just don't have one. It's no big deal if they don't however.

 

 

Interesting. Hopefully they eclose soon!



#16 Offline VoidElecent - Posted June 9 2017 - 11:15 AM

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Our first Lasius nanitic has finally eclosed! Should we feed them soon?






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