Hello all!

As some of you may know, I tend to gravitate towards smaller ant species, and Strumigenys is no exception. This genus in particular has been on my bucket list to keep ever since I found a colony last year. This year, I hadn’t found any... until now! I happened to stumble across a sort of “Strumigenys hot-spot” in my yard. There’s a secluded area behind our lake’s dam that has loads of walnuts, twigs, and stems. It’s also in a shaded/mossy spot, so it’s a nice place to spend my day - which I did. I spent 6+ hours yesterday looking for colonies of these ants, and I ended up finding four in total (one of which I did not keep since they did not appear to have a queen). Transferring them into a test-tube setup was extremely time consuming. I used a large container lined with a thin coat of olive oil, and carefully dumped out each worker and piece of brood, a few at a time. I used wet q-tips to pick up each worker and egg/larvae/pupae to move them into the test tube, where they would spend the night. In total, I ended up with three colonies (I need help on the IDs):

Strumigenys cf. pilinasis (3 queens)
This was the first colony that I obtained that actually had a queen present. It was even more of a surprise when I found two additional queens deeper in the nest. I found this colony in a small twig, and they are, by far, the largest colony of the three (though, they don’t have the most queens of all three ). I’m assuming that this colony is S. pilinasis, but I would like confirmation. Have a look:





Strumigenys cf. pilinasis (6 queens)
This was the third colony that I found, although I’m putting it as second on the list because I think they are also S. pilinasis? You may have noticed that this colony has six queens! It’s not a very large colony, but hopefully it will get much larger with that amount of egg-production. I also found this colony inside of a twig. Here they are:






Strumigenys sp. (1 queen)
And finally, here is the second colony I came across. I saved it for last because it doesn’t appear to be S. pilinasis, so an ID would be greatly appreciated - I’ll be doing some research, too, so I’ll post back if I find out the species. This colony only has one queen, but they definitely make up for it in their coloration! They are beautiful! I found this colony inside of a decaying walnut (which there are a few trees present in this “Strumigenys hot-spot”). Here they are:




I’ll be ordering a springtail culture soon, but in the meantime I have been collecting a bunch from outside - which I could probably start my own culture, too.

Edit: This is also its own separate journal because I feel like these ants deserve it. I might be breaking up my collective journal soon.

Double edit: I think the last colony is S. pulchella?

Edited by CatsnAnts, July 24 2020 - 7:14 AM.

Nice colonies! While I would love to give you an ID on your colonies, I'm afraid it's just not possible without very clear, highly magnified photos of the heads of the individuals. I can tell you with a fair degree of certainty though that the second colony is not pulchella as the head shape is wrong. I'll let you know if I manage to come up with an ID. Good luck with these colonies!

Nice colonies! While I would love to give you an ID on your colonies, I'm afraid it's just not possible without very clear, highly magnified photos of the heads of the individuals. I can tell you with a fair degree of certainty though that the second colony is not pulchella as the head shape is wrong. I'll let you know if I manage to come up with an ID. Good luck with these colonies!

Thank you! And good to know!
Till next year then when I actually buy good camera and stop using this “macro clip lense” lol.

Why does the east taunt me so   Good luck with these. Surprised they can climb so well!

Why does the east taunt me so   Good luck with these. Surprised they can climb so well!

I found an S. louisianae colony last week, but left them there cuz I didn't feel like possibly killing them...

I think feathers work better than the usual wet q-tip approach. My big goose feather is one of my favorite ant-keeping “tools.” Just my two cents.

Why does the east taunt me so Good luck with these. Surprised they can climb so well!

They can’t climb worth a crap, couldn’t even get them to hold onto the wet q-tip a barrier is pretty unnecessary now that I think about it. And thank you! I’m hoping these do well, as I’m planning on letting of lot of my other ants go so I can focus more on this species - less is more when it comes to Strumigenys!

Edited by CatsnAnts, July 15 2020 - 10:45 AM.

 

Why does the east taunt me so   Good luck with these. Surprised they can climb so well!

I found an S. louisianae colony last week, but left them there cuz I didn't feel like possibly killing them...

 

I find tons of S. louisianae everywhere. I found a large colony with tons of alates just a few minutes ago, but just left them there as I already have tons of founding louisianae queens, 2 colonies, 1 membranifera colony, and a founding margaritae colony with her louisianae hosts (yes, I recently found out that margaritae is a social parasite).

I find tons of S. louisianae everywhere. I found a large colony with tons of alates just a few minutes ago, but just left them there as I already have tons of founding louisianae queens, 2 colonies, 1 membranifera colony, and a founding margaritae colony with her louisianae hosts (yes, I recently found out that margaritae is a social parasite).

Wow, this really is a diverse genus! Congrats on your finds! You should definitely update/start a new journal with these gals, I’d love to see them! Also, it turns out I actually have a pretty nice camera, but I just need a macro lens for it haha, so good-quality photos may be coming sooner than next year!

 

 

Why does the east taunt me so   Good luck with these. Surprised they can climb so well!

I found an S. louisianae colony last week, but left them there cuz I didn't feel like possibly killing them...

 

I find tons of S. louisianae everywhere. I found a large colony with tons of alates just a few minutes ago, but just left them there as I already have tons of founding louisianae queens, 2 colonies, 1 membranifera colony, and a founding margaritae colony with her louisianae hosts (yes, I recently found out that margaritae is a social parasite).

 

Update - 7/18/2020

Time for another update on these gals! Nothing much has really changed, but my food situation (springtails) is still a bit iffy. I have several cultures started right now, and in my free time I have been collecting extra springtails through traps/using my aspirator. Though this is working for now, I thought I’d put my root aphids to good use that I collected the other day. I split up the small collection of them into three groups and put one group in each Strumigenys test tube. I figured the ants would would either eat them or just let them be.

Strumigenys cf. pilinasis (3 queens)
This colony has been doing quite well that I can see of. No worker deaths, which is always a good sign, although I haven’t spotted any eggs yet (which I probably won’t considering their size). When I introduced the aphids into their test tube, they went crazy and lots of workers instantly went out. I’m not sure if they are going to eat the aphids, or what? We’ll see I guess:







Strumigenys cf. pilinasis (6 queens)
This colony is doing well so far, too, but I did see one dead worker this morning, which is never a good sign. This has been the only death so far in all three colonies, and I’m hoping that it may have been an “accidental” death from when I transferred them. This colony also went crazy over the aphids, although I saw one worker simply drag one to the entrance and leave it there, so maybe they’re don’t see them as food:







Strumigenys sp. (1 queen)
Again, these guys went crazy over the aphids. Not much else to say:







If aphids would somehow be bad for Strumigenys, please let me know! I’m simply trying to experiment with food options until my springtail culture is ready.

Edit: Never mind, I actually can see eggs!

Edited by CatsnAnts, July 18 2020 - 5:14 AM.

Mini update: I checked my springtail trap just now and fed each colony 4-5 of them. This is the first time I actually watched them “hunt”, and it was pretty funny to say the least (maybe not for the springtail) - the springtail would jump while the Strumigenys worker would still be clinging on and they would just bounce all around the test tube together

Edit: Also, how often should I be feeding these colonies?

Edited by CatsnAnts, July 18 2020 - 10:30 AM.

Awesome post and pictures. I am very new to ant keeping (getting my first colony in a couple days) I bought them because I wanted a certain species that I couldn’t find here. This post is making me more excited ngl. Well keep up the good work

Based on the springtail bodies, it looks like you've been feeding them some sort of isotomid. Are all the springtails the same? Isotomidae can be a bit tricky to culture.

Awesome post and pictures. I am very new to ant keeping (getting my first colony in a couple days) I bought them because I wanted a certain species that I couldn’t find here. This post is making me more excited ngl. Well keep up the good work

I’m pretty new to keeping this species as well, it’ll be a bit of a learning curve for us both!
Edit: As just a heads up, these ants feed almost exclusively on springtails, so be sure to have a good supply of them! I made that mistake and now have to dig up springtails every day until my culture is actually “producing”.

Based on the springtail bodies, it looks like you've been feeding them some sort of isotomid. Are all the springtails the same? Isotomidae can be a bit tricky to culture.

I did buy a starter culture of a Collembola sp. springtail that I need to let grow a little bit before I use (are those classified as Isotomid?). In the meantime, I have been collecting these “springtails” - some are small and white, while others are fairly large and gray-ish, but the structure between the two is very similar. You are probably correct since you know a lot more about this kind of thing than I do. I’ll be upgrading my camera situation soon, so I’ll get some good shots of them. I would like to know what they are! (And just to be on the safe side, these are safe to feed to my Strumigenys, right 0-0?)

Also just want to point out that while I was out collecting springtails, I found a 9 queen colony of Strumigenys cf. pilinasis (and I thought 6 queens was a lot haha). I won’t be collecting any more until I am assured that I have the proper conditions to raise them, and I’ve also been designing some “specialty” formicarium for these gals. Hopefully they will like it, I’ll post my plans soon.

Edited by CatsnAnts, July 20 2020 - 4:51 PM.

Awesome post and pictures. I am very new to ant keeping (getting my first colony in a couple days) I bought them because I wanted a certain species that I couldn’t find here. This post is making me more excited ngl. Well keep up the good work

I’m pretty new to keeping this species as well, it’ll be a bit of a learning curve for us both!
Edit: As just a heads up, these ants feed almost exclusively on springtails, so be sure to have a good supply of them! I made that mistake and now have to dig up springtails every day until my culture is actually “producing”.

Based on the springtail bodies, it looks like you've been feeding them some sort of isotomid. Are all the springtails the same? Isotomidae can be a bit tricky to culture.

I did buy a starter culture of a Collembola sp. springtail that I need to let grow a little bit before I use (are those classified as Isotomid?). In the meantime, I have been collecting these “springtails” - some are small and white, while others are fairly large and gray-ish, but the structure between the two is very similar. You are probably correct since you know a lot more about this kind of thing than I do. I’ll be upgrading my camera situation soon, so I’ll get some good shots of them. I would like to know what they are! (And just to be on the safe side, these are safe to feed to my Strumigenys, right 0-0?)
Also just want to point out that while I was out collecting springtails, I found a 9 queen colony of Strumigenys cf. pilinasis (and I thought 6 queens was a lot haha). I won’t be collecting any more until I am assured that I have the proper conditions to raise them, and I’ve also been designing some “specialty” formicarium for these gals. Hopefully they will like it, I’ll post my plans soon.

Ooh, specialty formicarium? Sounds cool!

 I’m pretty new to keeping this species as well, it’ll be a bit of a learning curve for us both!

Edit: As just a heads up, these ants feed almost exclusively on springtails, so be sure to have a good supply of them! I made that mistake and now have to dig up springtails every day until my culture is actually “producing”

 

 

Well I am keeping a different species but its beautiful to see these species

 

Edit: any species for that matter. I am completely in love with the Harpegnathos venator species but I am new to keeping and think this species is too much for me to andle to start with

Edited by Lars, July 21 2020 - 2:23 AM.

I’m pretty new to keeping this species as well, it’ll be a bit of a learning curve for us both!
Edit: As just a heads up, these ants feed almost exclusively on springtails, so be sure to have a good supply of them! I made that mistake and now have to dig up springtails every day until my culture is actually “producing”

Well I am keeping a different species but its beautiful to see these species
 
Edit: any species for that matter. I am completely in love with the Harpegnathos venator species but I am new to keeping and think this species is too much for me to andle to start with

Oh my bad! I would say you could handle it! They’re a little more tricky than a regular ant species, but nothing too complicated. If you start a journal on them, members on here would love to help you out!

 

 

I’m pretty new to keeping this species as well, it’ll be a bit of a learning curve for us both!
Edit: As just a heads up, these ants feed almost exclusively on springtails, so be sure to have a good supply of them! I made that mistake and now have to dig up springtails every day until my culture is actually “producing”

Well I am keeping a different species but its beautiful to see these species
 
Edit: any species for that matter. I am completely in love with the Harpegnathos venator species but I am new to keeping and think this species is too much for me to andle to start with

Oh my bad! I would say you could handle it! They’re a little more tricky than a regular ant species, but nothing too complicated. If you start a journal on them, members on here would love to help you out!

 

Right now i'm a bit nervous about it and my mom is scared of them like big time I showed her to get a laughed and she said I am never allowed to bring those to the house but in 2 years ill move out so I might get them down the line i'm starting with Camponotus barbaricus as of right now