95 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

The largest major so far, which is actually a medium sized major I think at 6mm, compared to the larger majors and super major has darkened further.

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I can see minor, larger minor, mini major and medium major




regular Pheidole and Carebara majors just have a big head, but these girls have muscle all over! 
Even the upper back is bulgey
 

Edited by CoolColJ, April 9 2019 - 8:59 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Dual Pheidole antipodum queen, triple ride

That newly eclosed worker is so small and cute....

 

The bottom queen has a nipped antenna, probably from a that recent minor fight to exert dominance.

That's when I noticed the queens stressing out and the workers all alarmed....

 

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[Leo]

Yknow, I think my Carebara diversa has more brood right now =\

[CoolColJ]

Yknow, I think my Carebara diversa has more brood right now =\

 

The dual queen colony doesn't have much they only started going recently, the single queen has a lot

like a teaspoon worth

[Leo]

 

Yknow, I think my Carebara diversa has more brood right now =\

 

The dual queen colony doesn't have much they only started going recently, the single queen has a lot

like a teaspoon worth

 

No I mean't your largest colony

[CoolColJ]

Queen 5 is getting harder to keep them inside the test tube when feeding.
They are quite aggressive and get super alarmed like meat ants!
So I have shoved a piece of balled up tissue inside the test tube to help
Now they guard the tissue ball instead of the cotton plug, allowing me to seal it back up eventually.

Growing well, they have enough brood to fill a tea spoon

Largest colony queen 5 in the foreground and queen 8 at the back.


Cheeky workers of queen 5 have dug a little chamber into the cotton dam...



Original members of dual queen setup2, queen 10 have 4 large larvae already



Queen 11, the separated queen from the above former dual colony with her small share of the brood and workers.
Has a good amount of eggs, so she will do ok.
She has one small major eclose this week.

Edited by CoolColJ, June 10 2019 - 5:17 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Queen 10 is doing well since her separation from queen 11. I can see eggs and one large larvae



Queen 11 has some new workers about to eclose, but the rest of the larvae that I pinched from her original colony look like mini majors, and I see no new eggs.
So if she hasn't laid since, that may be why she was attacked...unproductive or infertile...



Queen 5 is doing well, she has to be over 200 workers now or around there.
Unlike the smaller colonies that cover up the honey, this colony swarms any food I give them for a day, and then cleans out all the honey and most of the roach bit, and few workers keep at it for the rest of the week.

Getting harder to see the queen. Still no larger majors since that 6mm one


That tunnel they made in the water cotton... and the floating workers that got trapped in there....

[CoolColJ]

So Pheidole antipodum queen 5's colony pushed their styrofoam chamber entrance against the bit of balled up tissue I put at the front of the of the test tube yesterday

And piled most of the brood against it, and then today I see the queen hanging onto it, with workers riding her.

I was puzzled, but it looks like some condensation has formed and dripped down to the test tube bottom.

That styrofoam is also pretty chewed up now

 

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Edited by CoolColJ, June 13 2019 - 7:06 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Ok I know why they did this now, the tunnel they dug into the water cotton caused the water chamber to lose vaccum so it started to slowly leak out...
lucky I had that balled up tissue in there as it was really damp... I was wondering why the water level dropped so quickly.

At first I tried to open up the test tube in a fluon lined container with a new test tube (with styrofoam chamber entrance butting against it, with all the tissue and styrofoam pulled out,
but the brood was water logged and stuck fast on the glass.
Then I tried using those 3D printed test tube connectors, plus heat cable on the new tube, and then they did move some across, but I cracked the old test tube in doing so
(grrr I have cracked so many test tubes on these things!)

Even more water leaked out, so in the end I tipped the queen across, opened the test tube again in the container and scared the queen into the chamber.
Then put the old, now broken test tube against it, and over time most of the brood was moved across as the water dried out.
There are still a lot of workers hanging around in the old tube and 20% chilling out in the now empty water chamber of the old tube they dug into....

Also you can hear the ants chewing on the styrofoam

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The current largest major prefers to stay in the old broken tube... plus 2 larvae...

[CoolColJ]

feeding time for my largest Pheidole Antipodum colony - boy they love their raw honey!
Here they are piling ontop each other and literally fighting their way to the honey and a piece of roach... standing room only!
 
They are supposed to have army ant style foraging behaviour... more than half the colony piled up here, probably over 100
 
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One of the larger mini majors trying to get a look in





meanwhile back in the Queen's chamber

Edited by CoolColJ, July 25 2019 - 2:19 AM.

[Canadant]

Amazing thread. Thank you

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole antipodum queen 10's colony of 100, showing 5 different sizes - 2 minor and 3 mini major sizes.
The largest mini majors here is 5-6mm, there are two of these.
Still none of the largest 1cm sized super majors, which should be 3-4x the size of the minors
Only 1/5 of the brood shown here, mainly small pupa near the heat cable.

This species doesn't seem to use the majors as repletes like a lot of Pheidole species.
They also don't like raw nuts like regular Pheidole species...

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Edited by CoolColJ, August 19 2019 - 3:44 AM.

[ForestDragon]

These gals need some reclassification they show a lot of behaviors that aren't pheidole-like and when I first saw the queen i thought pheidole tribe but not pheidole genus, they seem to be relatives tho

[CoolColJ]

These gals need some reclassification they show a lot of behaviors that aren't pheidole-like and when I first saw the queen i thought pheidole tribe but not pheidole genus, they seem to be relatives tho

They used to be under the genus of Anisiopheidole

The queen will sometimes thump her gaster up and down when fed, exactly like other black Pheidole species I have kept, so that is one similar behaviour.
And the queen does have 3 antenna clubs like Pheidole

One the other hand the polymorphism and worker behaviour, queen riding, is much more like Carebara.
The majors do not look like typical Pheidole majors as well.


So they seem to be a tweener between Pheidole and Carebara

[MegaMyrmex]

They also display a lot of subterranean behavior, and even the workers have the characteristic subterranean appearance- small, short legs, little pigmentation, and no eyes. The queen looks a lot like other carebara sp, especially Carebara vidua, the African thief ant(which is also a subterranean species).

[CoolColJ]

They also display a lot of subterranean behavior, and even the workers have the characteristic subterranean appearance- small, short legs, little pigmentation, and no eyes. The queen looks a lot like other carebara sp, especially Carebara vidua, the African thief ant(which is also a subterranean species).

They have eyes, just very small

[Mdrogun]

The similarities seen between them and Carebara spp. are likely just a result of convergent evolution. 

[ForestDragon]

 

These gals need some reclassification they show a lot of behaviors that aren't pheidole-like and when I first saw the queen i thought pheidole tribe but not pheidole genus, they seem to be relatives tho

They used to be under the genus of Anisiopheidole

The queen will sometimes thump her gaster up and down when fed, exactly like other black Pheidole species I have kept, so that is one similar behaviour.
And the queen does have 3 antenna clubs like Pheidole

One the other hand the polymorphism and worker behaviour, queen riding, is much more like Carebara.
The majors do not look like typical Pheidole majors as well.


So they seem to be a tweener between Pheidole and Carebara

 

could be an evolutionary link?

[CoolColJ]

My largest Pheidole antipodum colony of around 300 workers - Queen 5's is getting a handful to keep inside their test tube.
So I figure it's time to move them into a nest.


The minor workers can squeeze inbetween the space of the nest's magnet top... and they have started piling sand in the gaps there.
Even though the queen and all the big brood pile remains in the test tube.

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[AntsDakota]

Australians are so lucky when it comes to ants.... (maybe not when they're stung by Myrmecia, though.  )