50 replies to this topic

[Arroavantho]

Hey y'all! 3 new queens here, all collected from Hardeeville, SC, in the southernmost tip of the state. They had quite a rough trip after that, being carted around in my backpack for a few days til I returned home. As such they They are as follows:

 

Q2018061

Betty †

Dorymyrmex bureni

6/15/2018

 

Betty was my first find that night, a dealate Dorymyrmex queen. She has laid a small clump of eggs as visible in the image below. Less than both Adelaide and Winifred, which may be due to the stress she endured in my backpack.

 

Q2018062

Lieke

Colobopsis cf. impressa

6-15-18

 

Lieke is a Colobopsis queen alate that I believe to be C. impressa (as opposed to the C. cf. obliqua queens I always would find in Columbia). She has not laid and I'm not sure yet if she's fertile or no.

 

 

Q2018063

Flora

Camponotus floridanus

6/15/2018

 

Flora was my last capture that night, caught as an alate on a balcony rail at my motel. She shed her wings a couple days later and laid light pink eggs soon after that! I must admit, I'm very excited about Flora. Very very excited. C. floridanus colonies develop faster than most other Camponotus species, so it won't be two years from now that they're a reasonable size. This is important as there is a significant chance I'll be leaving the state in 2 years' time. And as Camponotus are some of my favorite ants, a C. floridanus capture is effectively the ultimate find. There is a good chance Flora's colony will become my primary colony... she's competing with Scarlett, Emily, and Congaree for that spot. In any case you can see her below~

 

Edited by Arroavantho, August 5 2018 - 5:28 AM.

[Arroavantho]

Hey folks! I've been laaaazy about updating this, but I do have two queens to introduce first found two weeks ago. Then I'll do a full update on my other queens!

 

Q2018064

Hecate

Pheidole navigans

6/17/2018

 

Hecate is my first Pheidole navigans queen, an introduced non-invasive Pheidole species hailing from Venezuela. She is named for Hecate, the Greek goddess of crossroads. She has laid many eggs as can be seen in the picture below. She's also shy, hiding under the wet cotton, so this was the best picture I could get.

 

 

Q2018065

Saar

Colobopsis cf. obliqua

6/17/18

 

My most recently caught queen that I decided to keep, Saar is a Colobopsis obliqua queen that has not yet laid.

 

Edited by Arroavantho, July 1 2018 - 1:11 PM.

[Arroavantho]

Ok time to do a full update on my queen's statuses since two weeks ago. 

 

Firstly in general, I have put my Crematogaster, Temnothorax, and Dorymyrmex queens into the do not disturb area one week ago. As such the update here for them is as of 1 week ago. Secondly, I have stopped collecting queens in the species Colobopsis obliqua, Brachymyrmex patagonicus, and Pheidole bicarinata. I've done a reevaluation of my Nylanderia queens and discovered several are actually just skinny Brachymyrmex patagonicus queens, so that has changed the demographics that I have a bit. I'll evaluate and make a decision regarding which queen I'm going to keep, releasing the others. I've also lost two queens: Rita (a Nylanderia parvula queen) and Persephone (a Pheidole bicarinata queen). I'll discuss where I put their brood later. 

 

Q2017001: Congaree (Crematogaster cf. lineolata)

As of one week ago no change. 

 

Q2017002: Cayce (Crematogaster cf. cerasi)

As of one week ago, Congaree's brood disappeared. Either she had them somewhere I couldn't see or she ate them after moving to the new city. I'm hoping the former.

 

Q2018002: Prima (Camponotus nearcticus)

Prima still has only one larvae. No change.

 

Q2018003: Minnie (Brachymyrmex patagonicus)

More active thankfully. Her brood are all scattered which isn't my favorite thing to see but whatever. Mis-ID'd, now Brachymyrmex patagonicus.

 

Q2018005: Delores (Forelius pruinosus)

More active than last time, but I also found out her "brood" was actually just sand. I'm considering feeding her a very small drop of honey.

 

Q2018020: Bitsy (Brachymyrmex patagonicus)

Bitsy was one of my earliest queens, and so I mis-ID'd her. She's B. patagonicus, which I'm not thrilled about. But she does have a pupa now!

 

Q2018022: Scarlett (Camponotus chromaiodes)

Scarlett's last pupa eclosed into a malformed worker that died, just as the last one did. She does still have several small larvae and a couple eggs still though so it'll just be a matter of waiting with her.

 

Q2018023: Hestia (Temnothorax texanus)

As of last week, no change.

 

Q2018024: Eve (Brachymyrmex patagonicus)

Another misidentified queen. No particular change, she seems to be doing well.

 

Q2018025: Lotte (Colobopsis cf. obliqua)

Lotte is up to 6 eggs, making her by far my most successful Colobopsis queen. As a reminder, one of these was a brood boost.

 

Q2018026: June (Nylanderia cf. faisonensis)

Another misidentified queen. She has lots of eggs and seems to be doing pretty well.

 

Q2018027: Roos (Colobopsis cf. obliqua)

Roos is now up to three eggs!  She's also the only Colobopsis queen that is fully dealate.

 

Q2018028: Maud (Colobopsis cf. obliqua)

Maud is also up to three eggs!

 

Q2018030: Billie (Nylanderia sp.)

Billie I'm sticking with the Nylanderia ID, but removing the faisonensis identifier. Faisonensis I've learned recently is much smaller, so she's likely parvula or vividula.

 

Q2018031: Anna (Brachymyrmex patagonicus)

She was the one B. patagonicus queen I knew was that, so no surprises there. No apparent changes.

 

Q2018032: Fenna (Colobopsis cf. obliqua)

Fenna has laid three eggs! Very exciting!

 

Q2018034: Demeter (Pheidole cf. bicarinata)

No change from last week. Adjusted ID to bicarinata.

 

Q2018038: Emily (Camponotus pennsylvanicus)

Emily has around 16 eggs now, which doesn't sound like too many, but that's excellent for a Camponotus queen. She's doing very very well.

 

Q2018041: Carla (Nylanderia cf. parvula)

Confirmed she is indeed Nylanderia. Has several large larvae. I've moved Rita's brood to her, so she has been brood boosted, but I had to remove the q-tip and old cotton ball it was sticking through because it was loose. Hopefully that didn't freak Carla out too much.

 

Q2018044: Babs (Nylanderia cf. parvula)

Confirmed she is Nylanderia, but adjusted the ID to Nylanderia parvula. Has several large larvae

 

Q2018045: Lucille (Nylanderia sp.)

Adjusted ID to Nylanderia for now, species unknown. Seems to be doing well!

 

Q2018049: Artemis (Pheidole cf. bicarinata)

Artemis is doing very well. She's currently the most prolific of my Pheidole queens at around 60 eggs.

 

Q2018055: Aphrodite (Pheidole cf. bicarinata)

Aphrodite has a large pile of brood like the other Pheidole queens.

 

Q2018056: Hera (Pheidole cf. bicarinata)

Hera appears to have adopted Persephone's brood just fine. She's doing well!

 

Q2018057: Winifred (Dorymyrmex bureni)

As of last week, appears to be doing well. Has laid a bit more.

 

Q2018058: Adelaide(Dorymyrmex bureni)

As of last week, has laid a bit more. Is doing well!

 

Q2018059: Athena (Pheidole cf. metallescens)

Has laid some more eggs, now around 50 brood!

 

Q2018061: Betty (Dorymyrmex bureni)

As of last week, is doing well and has ;aid more brood!

 

Q2018062: Lieke (Colobopsis impressa)

Lieke has laid her first egg! If she follows the trajectory of other Colobopsis queens I have, she'll have more soon!

 

Q2018063: Flora (Camponotus floridanus)

Seems to be doing well. No change.

 

Q2018064: Hecate (Pheidole navigans)

Introduced this week, see above.

 

Q2018065: Saar (Colobopsis cf. obliqua)

Introduced this week, see above.

[Arroavantho]

I’d like to start today with some not particularly fun announcements. Firstly, I am sad to announce we had some deaths this week. Congaree, the long-time poorly performing Crematogaster queen, and my first ever queen, died over the past two weeks. Prima, my Camponotus nearcticus queen, also died this week. Delores, my only Forelius pruinosus queen, has also passed on. None of these deaths surprise me… these are all among the queens I overheated and their loss has been expected. I’ve also decided to freeze and kill most of my Brachymyrmex patagonicus queens as I realized that I cannot rightly release or trade away these queens. Thus, Minnie, Eve, June, and Anna were all placed into the freezer today and killed. Bitsy, my longest running B. patagonicus queen and my only queen with pupae, I’ve decided to keep permanently.

 

In lighter news, I have found more queens this past week which you can expect to see introduced sometime next week. Three of them I’m for now labelling Nylanderia cf. terricola, and two of them are more Dorymyrmex bureni queens. I am also adding Dorymyrmex bureni to the list of queens I’m now ignoring in the field, joining Colobopsis obliqua, Brachymyrmex patagonicus, and Pheidole bicarinata. See y’all next week!

 

Q2017002: Cayce (Crematogaster cf. cerasi): Cayce is still alive but no sign of her eggs. I am not sure how much longer she has, to be perfectly honest.

 

Q2018020: Bitsy (Brachymyrmex patagonicus): Bitsy has several pupae now. As my lone remaining B. patagonicus, is doing very well and I’m confident she will become one of my permanent colonies. Hopefully next week will bring her first eclosed worker!

 

Q2018022: Scarlett (Camponotus chromaiodes): Scarlett seems to be doing ok, she does have a few larvae but also seems to be carrying around her failed nanitic’s cocoon remnants around, which is kind of sad. Hopefully over the coming months she’ll get the chance to have more successful workers!

 

Q2018023: Hestia (Temnothorax texanus): Actually some good news with Hestia. Moving her to the do-not-disturb zone has caused her to finally remove her wings. I didn’t see any eggs, but I didn’t want to disturb her much. Her gaster DID appear larger though, so hopefully we’ll see eggs in two weeks!

 

Q2018025: Lotte (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): No apparent change.

 

Q2018027: Roos (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Up to four eggs!

 

Q2018028: Maud (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): I only saw one egg today in her tube but she probably was standing over the others.

 

Q2018030: Billie (Nylanderia sp.): No apparent change, though her brood are tiny and shoved in a corner, so I couldn’t tell how far along they were in their development.

 

Q2018032: Fenna (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Her eggs were scattered today, which doesn’t thrill me, but they’re still there.

 

Q2018034: Demeter (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): She has several larvae of different sizes now!

 

Q2018038: Emily (Camponotus pennsylvanicus): Emily has several larvae now of different sizes!

 

Q2018041: Carla (Nylanderia cf. parvula): She’s on to larvae now!

 

Q2018044: Babs (Nylanderia cf. parvula): She’s on to larvae now!

 

Q2018045: Lucille (Nylanderia sp.): She’s on to larvae now!

 

Q2018049: Artemis (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): She’s on to larvae now! (Are you sensing a pattern here?)

 

Q2018055: Aphrodite (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): She’s on to larvae now! (Really I feel kinda cheap repeating this over and over again! : P )

 

Q2018056: Hera (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): She’s on to larvae now! (I promise the rest of the run isn’t gonna be this over and over!)

 

Q2018057: Winifred (Dorymyrmex bureni): Still at egg stage, but these are larger ants after all.

 

Q2018058: Adelaide (Dorymyrmex bureni): Still at egg stage.

 

Q2018059: Athena (Pheidole cf. metallescens): She’s on to larvae now! (Yeah, last one I swear.)

 

Q2018061: Betty (Dorymyrmex bureni): Still at egg stage.

 

Q2018062: Lieke (Colobopsis impressa): Three eggs now!

 

Q2018063: Flora (Camponotus floridanus): She has her first larva! (See? Told ya I was done!)

 

Q2018064: Hecate (Pheidole navigans): She’s on to larvae now! (Ok I lied.)

 

Q2018065: Saar (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): First egg! Saar is fertile! I expect more next week comparing her to other Colobopsis queens!

Edited by Arroavantho, July 8 2018 - 9:00 AM.

[Arroavantho]

Wow, it's been a couple weeks since my last introductions! Closing off species for collection stemmed the tide quite a lot as I've found plenty of queens... just of species I already have. The first three tonight are a trio of Nylanderia cf. vividula queens I found at on a gas station pump. All three have laid and are doing well. Yes, they are all different queens, I know the pictures look similar! The other two are a couple more Dorymyrmex bureni queens that I will move into the do-not-disturb area the next time I open it up. yes, I know the two pics look similar, I swear they're also different!

 

Q2018067

Jackie

Nylanderia cf. vividula

7/5/2018

 

Q2018068

Bonnie

Nylanderia cf. vividula

7/5/18

 

Q2018069

Sunny

Nylanderia cf. vividula

7/5/18

 

Q2018070

Gertrude

Dorymyrmex bureni

7/5/18

 

Q2018071

Josephine

Dorymyrmex bureni

7/5/18

 

See y'all Sunday! Hopefully I'll have some eclosed workers for Bitsy! Cya then!

[Arroavantho]

Hey y'all! This is an off-week for the do-not-disturb queens, so no updates on:

• Q2017002: Cayce (Crematogaster cf. cerasi)
• Q2018023: Hestia (Temnothorax texanus)
• Q2018057: Winifred (Dorymyrmex bureni)
• Q2018058: Adelaide (Dorymyrmex bureni)
• Q2018061: Betty (Dorymyrmex bureni)

I have some bad news. Fenna, one of my Colobopsis queens, died this past week. Her eggs have been scattered for a time and I fear she was probably unfertilized. 

 

On the brighter side, I have caught two queens over the past week so hopefully they'll make it a week and I'll introduce them! 

 

And now, for the updates:

• Q2018020: Bitsy (Brachymyrmex patagonicus): Still no eclosed workers, but I have to think it'll be soon. 
• Q2018022: Scarlett (Camponotus chromaiodes): She's got a few larvae right now but no pupae. I'm hoping she'll get workers successfully eclosed soon rather than the malformed ones she's had so far.
• Q2018025: Lotte (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): At least three of her eggs have hatched into larvae! How exciting!
• Q2018027: Roos (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Roos has a couple larvae now too!
• Q2018028: Maud (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Maud's got one larvae, and her other eggs reappeared!
• Q2018030: Billie (Nylanderia sp.): She's got at least one larvae, which she was laying over. See pic below
• Q2018034: Demeter (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): Demeter is doing well, though I only saw one larva today. Not sure where the others are, but they may have been under her.
• Q2018038: Emily (Camponotus cf. pennsylvanicus): Emily has an impressive pile of brood, which she can be seen cuddling below. She has at least three pupae now, which makes me very excited!
  
• Q2018041: Carla (Nylanderia cf. parvula): Carla has pupae as well now.
• Q2018042: Babs (Nylanderia cf. parvula): Babs has at least four pupae, but look below at the pic. One is brown. That means, I might just have my first eclosed Nylanderia worker soon!!!
  
• Q2018045: Lucille (Nylanderia cf. vividula): She seems to be doing well. I've updated her ID to vividula.
• Q2018049: Artemis (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): No apparent change.
• Q2018055: Aphrodite (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): No apparent change.
• Q2018056: Hera (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): No apparent change.
• Q2018059: Athena (Pheidole cf. metallescens): No apparent change.
• Q2018062: Lieke (Colobopsis cf. impressa): Four eggs now!
• Q2018063: Flora (Camponotus floridanus): Multiple larvae of different sizes now!
• Q2018064: Hecate (Pheidole navigans): No apparent change.
• Q2018065: Saar (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Saar wasn't attending to her only egg but that behavior I've seen in pretty much all my Colobopsis queens.
• Q2018067: Jackie (Nylanderia cf. vividula): No apparent change.
• Q2018068: Bonnie (Nylanderia cf. vividula): No apparent change.
• Q2018069: Sunny (Nylanderia cf. vividula): No apparent change.
• Q2018070: Gertrude (Dorymyrmex bureni): No apparent change.
• Q2018071: Josephine (Dorymyrmex bureni): No apparent change.

Edited by Arroavantho, July 15 2018 - 2:26 PM.

[Arroavantho]

Hi folks! I have some really exciting news, but first, I have an introduction to do. Q2018072, a Nylanderia parvula queen I found last week, I have not introduced yet because she doesn't look very good, so I'm holding off unless/until she looks better, but I do have ready to introduce:

 

Q2018073

Cori

Temnothorax curvispinosus

7/9/18

This lucky Temnothorax queen I found while driving actually. What a great day it was. I just found out I passed a big med school exam, had just picked up a pizza, and had just pulled out of the parking lot. I stopped at a red light, looked up, & saw an alate on my windshield. I opened my window, put a tube over her, got her onto it, and pulled her in to the car all before it turned green! Truly a pure luck capture. Cori's name was suggested by a good friend of mine. She has a small number of eggs seen in the pic below!

 

Now for the big news!!!

 

I HAVE NANITICS!

 

That's right folks, when checking on the unnamed parvula queen and Cori today to introduce them, I decided to sneak a peek at three queens I knew were nearing their first workers. Bitsy, my Brachymyrmex patagonicus queen, didn't have any, but the two Nylanderia queens I checked (Carla and Babs) did! This is very very exciting to me as this is the first time one of my queens has had viable workers!!! 

 

First on Carla, she was at three workers, one of which was still callow. She only has eggs and small larvae with them, so I'm not expecting more soon, but they did accept the honey I gave them. I have a couple pictures here... one shows the whole colony and the other shows two workers drinking the honey. 

 

As for Babs, she has four nanitics, one of which is still callow, with at least three pupae, one of which might be close to eclosing! This pic below is the best I could get because my dern camera program acted up right when I was taking pictures of them, so sorry for the crappy quality! You can see the three mature workers in the bottom right and the queen in the middle, while underneath the glare in the top left is the callow worker with the brood.

 

This is very exciting! I'm going to be putting up Carla for sale shortly. I'm trying to do this through GAN project (as it's highly visible) so no sales til that is through. Babs meanwhile I'm considering keeping permanently, I'm not really sure yet...

[Arroavantho]

So let's start off with some bad news. I checked on my do-not-disturb queens this week & discovered that Betty, one of my Dorymyrmex bureni queens, was dead and covered in mold. I've dumped her and her brood, & made sure to wash her tube thoroughly.

 

Now for the good news. I did pick up my first non-parasitic Lasius queen yesterday, so I'm excited about introducing her to y'all next weekend! I also now have three queens with workers, all Nylanderia: Betty, Babs, & Lucille! This is an exciting time, but I am not sure yet if I will be keeping any of the Nylanderia queens. Full update below!

 

Q2017002: Cayce (Crematogaster cf. cerasi): Still kickin', but don't see any brood anywhere. There is a q-tip in the tube though and she is spending a lot of time there, I'm kind of wondering if she's keeping her brood on it where I can't see.

Q2018020: Bitsy (Brachymyrmex patagonicus): No workers yet, but one cocoon is very brown. Should be a matter of days.

Q2018022: Scarlett (Camponotus chromaiodes): No apparent change.

Q2018023: Hestia (Temnothorax texanus): Larger brood pile!

Q2018025: Lotte (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Four of her eggs have hatched into larvae.

Q2018027: Roos (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): She has two larvae now.

Q2018028: Maud (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): At least two larvae.

Q2018030: Billie (Nylanderia sp.): Billie confuses me. She's definitely got brood, but I didn't see her larva. Hopefully it's just out of sight.

Q2018034: Demeter (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): No apparent change, but she did have some weird brown drops in her tube. Not sure what it was, but I cleaned it out with a q-tip.

Q2018038: Emily (Camponotus pennsylvanicus): Several pupae, larvae, and eggs. She may pass 20 workers before her first winter.

Q2018041: Carla (Nylanderia cf. parvula): Carla, as stated Friday, has three workers now! I fed the colony a piece of a waxworm, which was much too large for them, but they appreciated it anyways.

 

Q2018044: Babs (Nylanderia cf. parvula): Babs, as stated Friday, has four workers now! I fed her colony a piece of waxworm as well, and even Queen Babs herself decided to partake in the feast!

 

Q2018045: Lucille (Nylanderia cf. vividula): I did check Lucille Friday, but she had no workers. However in the past two days that must have changed, because she has two callow nanitics running around! I gave the honey too, but they're doing rather little in terms of drinking it... only one of the two workers is interested & seems to be feeding the queen and the other worker.

 

Q2018049: Artemis (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): No apparent change.

Q2018055: Aphrodite (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): No apparent change.

Q2018056: Hera (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): No apparent change. 

Q2018057: Winifred (Dorymyrmex bureni): No apparent change.

Q2018058: Adelaide (Dorymyrmex bureni): No apparent change.

Q2018059: Athena (Pheidole cf. metallescens): No apparent change.

Q2018062: Lieke (Colobopsis impressa): Has at least one larva.

Q2018063: Flora (Camponotus floridanus): No apparent change.

Q2018064: Hecate (Pheidole navigans): No apparent change.

Q2018065: Saar (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Two eggs now, which she was attending too, so it's good so far!

Q2018067: Jackie (Nylanderia cf. vividula): No apparent change.

Q2018068: Bonnie (Nylanderia cf. vividula): No apparent change.

Q2018069: Sunny (Nylanderia cf. vividula): No apparent change.

Q2018070: Gertrude (Dorymyrmex bureni): No apparent change. I moved her into the Do-not-disturb area with the other Dorymyrmex queens.

Q2018071: Josephine (Dorymyrmex bureni): No apparent change. I moved her into the Do-not-disturb area with the other Dorymyrmex queens.

Q2018073: Cori (Temnothorax cf. curvispinosus): No apparent change. I moved her into the Do-not-disturb area with my other Temnothorax queen.

 

[Arroavantho]

Midweek update with big news! Bitsy has nanitics! Seven of them! Yes, SEVEN! 

 

I fed her and her workers a drop of honey.... Queen Bitsy drank it all. So I provided another... one worker and Bitsy drank it. A third and a fourth, only Bitsy cared... So yeah feeding wasn't super successful but hey, they have a lot of brood as seen below!

 

I also fed my three Nylanderia colonies with workers. Here's Carla's three workers drinking honey happily:

 

And here's Babs's colony. Three of the five workers are drinking here (one is standing on the other two). You can see one pupa is very close to eclosing

 

And finally Lucille, who I gave a bit of waxworm to. She is up to 5 nanitics, some of which are pictured below!

 

That's all for tonight! See y'all Saturday hopefully for an intro (or two)!

[Arroavantho]

Hey folks! Sorry for being late, I wrote most of this yesterday evening but got sleepy before I could finish it. Off week, so no update on Cayce, Hestia, Winifred, Adelaide, Gertrude, Josephine, and Cori. I have two intros to do and then the full update, including some very special news!!!!

 

To start with, I've made the choice not to keep any of my Nylanderia queens long term. This was a tough choice but I do believe it was the right one, as I have too many other species I want to keep more than they, and I have limited space for colonies. I've signed up with GAN so all three of my Nylanderia queens that have workers are for sale there now (That is, Carla, Babs & Lucille). We'll see if anyone wants to buy, otherwise I'll have to release them.

 

Now for the intros!

 

Q2018072

Berry

Nylanderia parvula

7/9/18

Berry has not done particularly well since I got her, so I actually have put off introducing her for a while. She is still alive however and has laid one egg, so I might as well introduce her here.

 

Q2018074

Nancy

Lasius brevicornis

7/21/18

Nancy is my first ever nonparasitic Lasius queen. She hasn't laid yet, which combined with the fact she's still an alate, concerns me, but even if so it is only the start of Lasius season. I'm hoping to find more and manage some success!

 

Q2018020: Bitsy (Brachymyrmex patagonicus): They hadn't finished their honey from earlier this week, so I'm not going to feed them yet. If it's still there Thursday I'll clean it out with a q-tip. 

 

Q2018022: Scarlett (Camponotus chromaiodes): She's only got a small handful of brood, & is looking skinny. I gave her a little bit of honey to help her perk up a bit. I'm hoping I can salvage her situation.

 

Q2018025: Lotte (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Lotte's brood are all small larvae scattered about. It concerns me a bit because my other Colobopsis queens have taken to keeping their brood in a pile. We'll see how this evolves.

 

Q2018027: Roos (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): She has one particularly large larva & a few smaller ones. The large one I'm not sure if it is a late-stage larva or a developing major.

 

Q2018028: Maud (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Maud's brood seem to be doing well.

 

Q2018030: Billie (Nylanderia sp.): Still only eggs. I'm not sure she's doing so hot, my other Nylanderia queens are doing so much better than her. Looking through old pics I found she had a pupa only a couple weeks ago. I've decided to put her in the do-not-disturb area next week, I assume I must have spooked her into eating her brood.

 

Q2018034: Demeter (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): No apparent change.

 

Q2018041: Carla (Nylanderia cf. parvula): They didn't seem super interested in their waxworm, but rather seemed more just uncomfortable with being revealed.

 

Q2018044: Babs (Nylanderia cf. parvula): I have pics of a couple of them eating a piece of waxworm below!

 

Q2018045: Lucille (Nylanderia cf. vividula): Up to 6 workers! You can see them all drinking in the pic below!

 

Q2018049: Artemis (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): Definitely has some puape.

 

Q2018056: Hera (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): Not sure if she has pupae yet, but she does seem to be doing well. 

 

Q2018059: Athena (Pheidole cf. metallescens)

 

Q2018062: Lieke (Colobopsis impressa): She has a few larvae, including one particularly large one.

 

Q2018063: Flora (Camponotus floridanus): Her pile of brood is large!

 

Q2018065: Saar (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Three larvae at least!

 

Q2018067: Jackie (Nylanderia cf. vividula): Large pile of brood, including larvae.

 

Q2018068: Bonnie (Nylanderia cf. vividula): Large pile of brood, including larvae.

 

Q2018069: Sunny (Nylanderia cf. vividula): Large pile of brood, including larvae.

 

Now you may have noticed I skipped over Emily, my Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen, & a few Pheidole queens. That's because I saved them for now!

 

When I pulled Emily from her nest, I caught her eclosing her very first worker! yes, I actually saw her doing it. Below is a picture of her first nanitic, still immobile (though by now the worker is moving and healthy!). I did catch it on video and if I get a chance to edit it down I'll be sure to share it here! I will admit, with how Emily introduced herself to me and now this, she's solidified her status as my favorite. If I find I can only keep one colony, it will be hers, no doubt about it. I won't feed them til Wednesday though as I want the callow worker to have some time to harden her shell first.

 

I also skipped Aphrodite too, one of my Pheidole bicarinata queens. She has her first workers! Six little nanitics, which you can see in the picture below drinking honey!

 

And also Athena, my Pheidole cf. metallescens queen, which has two nanitics seen here, and a third one apparently on the way!

 

And also Hecate, my Pheidole navigans queen, which has two nanitics pictured below!

 

Wow, that's four queens now with new nanitics! I'll have to do some thinking on those Pheidole queens and whether I want to consider any of them for a long-term colony. See you midweek!

[Arroavantho]

Hey y'all sorry for being late, was much busier this weekend than I expected. I have three intros to do and then the typical rundown, which has a mixture of good and bad news. But before all that, I have gotten my first query from GAN!  I'm not sure which queen will be sold but I anticipate it will be either Lucille or Aphrodite. I'll be sure to let y'all know when the handoff happens and which I'm selling!

And now for some intros:

 

Q2018075

Summermist

Solenopsis cf. pergandei

7/28/18

Summermist is my first native Solenopsis, rescued from a pond surrounded by woods. She's named for the day I caught her, a particularly misty morning. Yellow with an orange gaster, I am not sure if she is fertile yet. She has been put into a petri dish filled with eco earth since Solenopsis require high humidity, so do best in moistened substrate. The picture below is not great but it's hard to focus properly in that dish.

 

Q2018076

Brioche

Brachymyrmex depilis

7/28/18

Also rescued from the same pond, Brioche is a B. depilis queen alate. She has not laid yet but she might yet. Depilis queens' gasters look like loaves of bread, so I decided to name any queens of this species after types of bread!

 

Q2018077

Nike

Pheidole navigans

7/24/18

Nike is named for the Greek goddess of victory, the namesake of the popular shoe brand. Like Summermist and Brioche she was found in that pond. She is a dealate and has one egg, as pictured below.

 

And now, for the full update!

 

Q2017002: Cayce (Crematogaster cf. cerasi): Still alive. I decided to give her a little honey which she happily accepted. We'll see if she lays again.

 

Q2018020: Bitsy (Brachymyrmex patagonicus): Bitsy now has like 11 workers. They refused waxworm, so I suppose they weren't hungry today.

 

Q2018022: Scarlett (Camponotus chromaiodes): Scarlett ate her brood! This is a pretty terrible occurrence, but I've not given up on her. I gave her a little honey and moved her into a new test tube since her old one was pretty moldy, then put her in the do-not-disturb area.

 

Q2018023: Hestia (Temnothorax texanus): Seems to be doing well!

 

Q2018025: Lotte (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Lotte also ate her brood. I gave her a little honey and put her in the do-not-disturb area, like Scarlett.

 

Q2018027: Roos (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Seems to be doing alright.

 

Q2018028: Maud (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Seems to be doing alright.

 

Q2018030: Billie (Nylanderia sp.): I'm left to assume Billie also ate her brood much earlier. She does have a pile of eggs now, so I think she's recovering, but I've gave her a small amount of honey and put her in the do-not-disturb area.

 

Q2018034: Demeter (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): Demeter has her very first nanitic! I'm not going to feed them yet, but it's exciting to see this development!

 

Q2018038: Emily (Camponotus pennsylvanicus): I fed her some honey Friday, and found that she had a second nanitic, this one a fair bit larger than her sister.

 

Q2018041: Carla (Nylanderia cf. parvula): Not much interest in protein today.

 

Q2018044: Babs (Nylanderia cf. parvula): Also didn't really eat their protein.

 

Q2018045: Lucille (Nylanderia cf. vividula): Lucille's workers did go for the bit of lunchmeat I gave them.

 

Q2018049: Artemis (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): Artemis has her first nanitic, just like Demeter! Also like Demeter, I'm going to hold off on the first feeding for a bit.

 

Q2018055: Aphrodite (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): Aphrodite is doing very well, still at 6 workers! They did eat the lunchmeat I gave them.

 

Q2018056: Hera (Pheidole cf. bicarinata): She looks very close to nanitics. Should be by next week.

 

Q2018057: Winifred (Dorymyrmex bureni): Has larvae now!

 

Q2018058: Adelaide (Dorymyrmex bureni): Has larvae now!

 

Q2018059: Athena (Pheidole cf. metallescens): Up to three nanitics! Seems to be doing well, but didn't partake in the lunchmeat.

 

Q2018062: Lieke (Colobopsis impressa): Seems to be doing well.

 

Q2018063: Flora (Camponotus floridanus): Flora has two nanitics! What's more, it looks like 2 more are soon to eclose. I've given them their first drop of honey, which they quickly and eagerly accepted.

 

Q2018064: Hecate (Pheidole navigans): Up to three nanitics! Seems well, but didn't eat any  of the lunchmeat.

 

Q2018065: Saar (Colobopsis cf. obliqua): Seems to be doing well.

 

Q2018067: Jackie (Nylanderia cf. vividula): Has several larvae now.

 

Q2018068: Bonnie (Nylanderia cf. vividula): Has several larvae now.

 

Q2018069: Sunny (Nylanderia cf. vividula): Has several larvae now.

 

Q2018070: Gertrude (Dorymyrmex bureni): Seems to be doing well!

 

Q2018071: Josephine (Dorymyrmex bureni): Seems to be doing well!

 

Q2018072: Berry (Nylanderia parvula): Still no eggs. I'm assuming she's infertile. I will give her 2 weeks in the do-not-disturb area though before I get rid of her. 

 

Q2018073: Cori (Temnothorax cf. curvispinosus): I actually didn't see any eggs today. We'll see how it goes for her and if she gets to laying soon.

 

Q2018074: Nancy (Lasius brevicornis): No eggs yet. I'm worried she's infertile, but I will give her 2 weeks in the do-not disturb area.

 

Thanks for reading y'all! I'll see y'all either next week or whenever I have something to share!