Genus: Nylanderia
Species: bourbonica

Common Name:

Colony Stage: Fresh Queen
Caught Date: 06-04-2020
Eggs: 06-08-2020
Larva: 06-28-2020
Pupa: 07-01-2020 (Think I may have seen a fresh pupa, not 100% sure)

Nanitics: 07-09-2020

Diet:

Special Needs:

Do they Sting or bite?:

Escape Artists?:

Queen or colony count: 1 Queen.

06-28-2020:

Saw larva today when I checked on her. She seems to be doing well.

07-01-2020:

So I been informed that she might be a Nylanderia bourbonica instead of a Paratrechina longicornis. Going to wait for workers to be more sure but it seems that it may most likely be the case. I guess more of a reason to be excited to see workers!

07-09-2020:

First workers!

Edit-

Thank you to every single person that tried to help me identify the proper genus and species of these girls! I'd love to find me a Paratrechina longicornis now so I can observe them both in person and more easily see and understand the differences in the future. Maybe one day! But I do really appreciate all your guys help, I still have a lot to learn!

07-31-2020:

Terrible news. As I type this my queen is having some sort of seizure outside of her tube nest. When I first saw it I thought the workers were attacking her so I separated her from them. Observing her for a moment I realized she wasn't being attacked but was having some sort of episode. I figure she is going to die either way so I returned her to her workers and they come and try to get her back to the nest or just walk around her wiggling their antennae at her. Looking closer they definitely aren't attacking her. I'm not sure if this is some sort of genetic disorder or if the little bit of mold in the tube effected her or if she has some sort of parasite. I know it can't be pesticides as I'm overly cautious with what I feed them and most my other species are getting similar foods and no one else has this going on. Can ants get egg bound? Is that a possibility?

Whatever the case I'm pretty upset that I may lose this colony.

08-01-2020:

Checked on them this morning and as I thought the queen has died. I don't know what else I could have done for her or if there was anything I could have done.

Now I have to decide if I should allow the few workers and brood to live the rest of their lives as they are until the colony dies out from age or if I should euthanize them in case they have some internal parasites that could spread to my other ant colonies. I'd hate to do it but I have several other healthy colonies to think about. Any advice from experienced ant keepers? Should I euthanize them or do you think it is safe to let them live out the rest of their lives?

It's funny how an ant dying can be so upsetting! I suppose because it was so sudden. I did not expect this unlike say Beyonce when I knew she likely had a low chance of survival. This queen was fine and had workers and brood.

Anyway, here is a video for those who want to see for themselves what was happening (for the science of it, I suppose). Those of you who are sensitive to even bugs dying you might not want to watch.

Link To My Journal Directory

Edited by BitT, August 1 2020 - 10:40 AM.

Please keep in mind that the species name is not capitalized.

Ah, sorry. It's a bad habit of mine I'll have to work on breaking.

Edited by Manitobant, June 28 2020 - 11:58 AM.

Did you find this queen with workers? If so you should introduce some to her or she will probably die.

No, she's a fresh queen. With the exception of my Pheidole megacephala, who I saved from the fate of pesticide, all my queens are nuptial flight captures. I do not plan on collecting already established colonies.

Edit:

To be further clear I didn't see her with workers, though neither did I see other queens around. I had almost mistaken her for another Brachymyrmex, which were flying like crazy around the time I caught her, and almost passed her by. I barely noticed she looked slightly different before grabbing her. So it is possible there were other queens around but I over looked them because I thought they were "just another Brachymyrmex".

Edited by BitT, June 28 2020 - 12:16 PM.

Did you mean Pheidole megacephala?

lmao Yes, of course. That's what I get for typing too fast. I already edited that post 5 times fixing typo mistakes. XD

Did you find this queen with workers? If so you should introduce some to her or she will probably die.

No, she's a fresh queen. With the exception of my Pheidole megacephala, who I saved from the fate of pesticide, all my queens are nuptial flight captures. I do not plan on collecting already established colonies.

Edit:
To be further clear I didn't see her with workers, though neither did I see other queens around. I had almost mistaken her for another Brachymyrmex, which were flying like crazy around the time I caught her, and almost passed her by. I barely noticed she looked slightly different before grabbing her. So it is possible there were other queens around but I over looked them because I thought they were "just another Brachymyrmex".

 

 

Did you find this queen with workers? If so you should introduce some to her or she will probably die.

No, she's a fresh queen. With the exception of my Pheidole megacephala, who I saved from the fate of pesticide, all my queens are nuptial flight captures. I do not plan on collecting already established colonies.

Edit:
To be further clear I didn't see her with workers, though neither did I see other queens around. I had almost mistaken her for another Brachymyrmex, which were flying like crazy around the time I caught her, and almost passed her by. I barely noticed she looked slightly different before grabbing her. So it is possible there were other queens around but I over looked them because I thought they were "just another Brachymyrmex".

I commend you for sticking to nuptial flight queens. I have the same policy, and I wish more people would adopt it as well.

 

Ah, thank you. I figure taking a few flyers are less likely to hurt things since so many die naturally during this time anyway. Natives seem so sensitive and I imagine they wouldn't do well taken out when already established. And to be fair it's kind of exciting to wait and achieve your first workers from a fresh alate. Plus I still have a LOT to learn about Ant Keeping so starting at the beginning not only helps me learn from scratch but also gives me time to research the species and ask people about them while the queens are incubating before workers are about to cause mischief.  

Please keep in mind that the species name is not capitalized.

Please keep in mind that the species name is not capitalized.

i mean some people like myself are on mobile so capitalizing is not possible.

Please keep in mind that the species name is not capitalized.

i mean some people like myself are on mobile so capitalizing is not possible.

Capitalization is on mobile. It is an arrow. If it is filled in you type in capital letters, if not you don’t.

Isn't the name spelled Paratrechina longicornis? Also how big are these guys, small, medium, large?

Edited by TechAnt, June 30 2020 - 4:57 PM.

Isn't the name spelled Paratrechina longicornis? Also how big are these guys, small, medium, large?

Yup, you're right, thanks for catching it. I apparently have it spelled right in my documentation book but somehow messed it up here. I'll fix it in a second.

I don't have a photo of her size yet but when she gets her first workers and before I put her tube in an outworld I'll try to get a picture of her up against my ruler.

Also when I saw this on the side feed with you name I thought you got yourself one and I was excited to check it out. I was disappointed seeing it was just mine. lol

Edit: Oh, and I'd probably say small. She's bigger than my Brachymyrmex but I almost mistaken her for one.

Edited by BitT, June 30 2020 - 5:14 PM.

 

Isn't the name spelled Paratrechina longicornis? Also how big are these guys, small, medium, large?

Yup, you're right, thanks for catching it. I apparently have it spelled right in my documentation book but somehow messed it up here. I'll fix it in a second.

I don't have a photo of her size yet but when she gets her first workers and before I put her tube in an outworld I'll try to get a picture of her up against my ruler.

Also when I saw this on the side feed with you name I thought you got yourself one and I was excited to check it out. I was disappointed seeing it was just mine. lol

 

Edit: Oh, and I'd probably say small. She's bigger than my Brachymyrmex but I almost mistaken her for one.

 

Thanks!

This is a queen of Nylanderia bourbonica, not Paratrechina.

From Ferox_Formicae in https://www.formicul...nis#entry149529suggested that since it seems they lack prominent macrosetae that it is more likely a Paratrechina longicornis. Comparing the two what makes you think it's a Nylanderia bourbonica so I can understrand better?

This is a queen of Nylanderia bourbonica, not Paratrechina.

From Ferox_Formicae in https://www.formicul...nis#entry149529suggested that since it seems they lack prominent macrosetae that it is more likely a Paratrechina longicornis. Comparing the two what makes you think it's a Nylanderia bourbonica so I can understrand better?

Thank you to every single person that tried to help me identify the proper genus and species of these girls! I'd love to find me a Paratrechina longicornis now so I can observe them both in person and more easily see and understand the differences in the future. Maybe one day! But I do really appreciate all your guys help, I still have a lot to learn!

Terrible news. As I type this my queen is having some sort of seizure outside of her tube nest. When I first saw it I thought the workers were attacking her so I separated her from them. Observing her for a moment I realized she wasn't being attacked but was having some sort of episode. I figure she is going to die either way so I returned her to her workers and they come and try to get her back to the nest or just walk around her wiggling their antennae at her. Looking closer they definitely aren't attacking her. I'm not sure if this is some sort of genetic disorder or if the little bit of mold in the tube effected her or if she has some sort of parasite. I know it can't be pesticides as I'm overly cautious with what I feed them and most my other species are getting similar foods and no one else has this going on. Can ants get egg bound? Is that a possibility?

Whatever the case I'm pretty upset that I may lose this colony.