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Colobopsis alate


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#1 Offline PurdueEntomology - Posted July 10 2020 - 8:45 AM

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Hey there!!  So I was out the other day and found a alate Colobopsis at around 1pm.  Now to my knowledge they are nocturnal in nuptial flight or at least crepuscular.  Now she still has her wings so is she mated, don't know.  I would like some advice on getting her set up to possibly starting a brood.  I have placed hollowed out ash twig section for her.  She enters and leaves it.  Any advice from anyone who has had success with collected reproductives of this genus.



#2 Offline SuperFrank - Posted July 10 2020 - 8:52 AM

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In my experience Colobopsis keep/remove their wings with a about equal frequency even when mated. At least some species in the genus are thought to be primarily or even exclusively nectivorous iirc, the only colony I raised for any length of time subsisted almost exclusively on honeydew surrogate and only rarely would take solid food. They also will be extremely stubborn about laying unless they are provided with very cramped conditions, a normal test tube setup being much too large. However they will still found a colony in a test tube but it can take them weeks to lay. LordofAnts wrote an excellent post on how to raise them recently but idk what thread it was in.

#3 Offline SuperFrank - Posted July 10 2020 - 8:56 AM

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Ime they also have significantly better success rates when in groups

#4 Offline 123LordOfAnts123 - Posted July 10 2020 - 9:19 AM

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Here’s what I wrote on another thread. Keep in mind I’m not sure how much of this applies for C. mississippiensis, which nests within living plants and probably appreciates considerably more humidity.

Colobopsis impressa is one of the better known species in the genus, and they can be very common within their range. In my area, I routinely attract hundreds of alates utilizing blacklights during the first very warm and humid nights in late May and June. I’ve found them most common in and near mature hardwood forests with fairly mesic conditions, but they can persist in a wide variety of habitat types so long as they have plenty of arboreal nesting opportunities in the form of dead branches/twigs, or plenty of vines scaling up into the canopy.

Their diet in the wild seems to be exclusively liquid. I’ve seen workers in close association with honeydew producing Hemiptera and have frequently seen them feeding on bird droppings along low lying branches. Colonies are small, with no more than 250 workers and a few dozen majors in the largest nest.

Here’s an excerpt from Ants of Florida: Identification and Natural History, by Mark Deyrup:

“Colonies may only persist for a few years, judging by the size of field colonies and the longevity of laboratory colonies. Suitable nesting sites may be limited, and dead twigs are subject to breakage, circumstances that may give an evolutionary advantage to lineages that invest heavily in reproduction and less in long-term maintenance. The number of reproductives is correlated in this study with the number of majors, possibly because the food-storing majors maintain food supplies during the time reproductives are larvae. All this may mean that colonies end up somewhat understaffed with foragers.”

Captive care for the species usually begins with freshly caught queens. Something important to note is that dealates can be uncommon finds, and queens only occasionally remove their wings once captured. Despite this, they’re usually fertile if they’ve appeared at a light. I suspect arboreal ants such as them often continue to fly long after they’ve mated, until they locate an elevated position deemed suitable before removing their wings.

Queens can found together via pleometrosis, but I’ve never attempted such a setup and am unaware of how it’d go long term; all the founding/mature colonies I’ve seen or captured have always been monogynous. Queens can be started in standard test tube setups, but they truly appreciate as cramped a founding nest as possible. If provided with such, they’re usually quick to lay eggs. (Otherwise, they can take weeks) My favorite method of founding them is simple and utilizes glass blowing tubes with one end plugged with a wad of hot glue, (as blowing tubes are open ended) and the other end capped with cotton. I provide no water reservoir—this species, like many arboreal ants, is highly tolerant to desiccation—but I try to feed the queens carbohydrates before I put them away for founding. I’ll usually check a few times during the founding process and offer them water/sugar water on a piece of foil pushed into the tube with a thin metal wire, but only if the queens are looking thin.

The first brood is small and usually consists of 2-4 workers, but it’s easy sailing once they’ve arrived. I offer the first workers a sugar meal in the tube as soon as they will take one, and then immediately remove the cotton plug and install an entrance. To do so I simply hot-glue a thin piece of firm cardboard (like the type cereal boxes are made of, but avoid any pieces with inks/dyes) cut to size to fit flush over the tube opening. I poke a 1-1.5mm wide hole in the middle (this entrance will allow the observation of door-guarding behavior when the first major arrives, and even the queen will guard in very young colonies) and then place the entire tube in an appropriately sized foraging container, preferably in an elevated position to simulate an arboreal nest.

They need no additional nest humidity at all, but it’s important to provide fresh water in the outworld at all times using a test tube or byformica feeder. Workers will collect it at will, and the queen/majors serve as liquid stores. Diet should consist of frequent carbohydrate feedings (sugar/honey water, byformica sunburst, etc.) and crushed insects. (Crickets, mealworms, roaches, fruit flies, etc.) Insect hemolymph is mined out of dead prey provided in the outworld and the majority of protein is taken back to the nest in liquid form. Dry/uncrushed insects are often ignored, so accessible liquids should be prioritized when feeding solid foods for best success.

In the large colonies I have sustained to maturity, I also provided fresh bird droppings (from my pet conure; feces from granivorous/frugivorous birds seem preferred) every week, the liquids in which were avidly imbibed. Tree frog feces also seems to work well. If you’re feeling adventurous, human urine (sourced from someone non-medicated, on a healthy diet) can serve as a suitable urea substitute. They may or may not do just fine without any urea in the form of bird feces/human urine, especially if one feeds lots of roaches. (Which have large uric acid stores)

In much of their range they will need to be provided a winter dormancy, during which brood production either halts or slows down dramatically. The length and intensity of such will depend on the locale the queen originates from. I do so by moving mine to a cool corner of the house where temperatures average 68-72 degrees during the night/day, but only when the coinciding outside temperature drops have allowed for cooler temperature indoors. (All my ants are exposed to consistent 75-78 degree temps during the growing season) Ants from colder climates may need significantly lower temperatures for healthy dormancy.

I’ve only attempted to rear a handful of Colobopsis colonies long term, (truth be told, I usually lose interest in them fairly quickly) but the ones I’ve used the above methods on have had a near perfect success rate. By the time they approach the 12 month mark the next year, they have had 100+ workers and were in the process of rearing dozens of alates.

Glass blowing tubes: https://www.ebay.com...lcAAOSw4CFY10Cq

Edited by 123LordOfAnts123, July 10 2020 - 9:23 AM.

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#5 Offline PurdueEntomology - Posted July 10 2020 - 9:52 AM

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Here’s what I wrote on another thread. Keep in mind I’m not sure how much of this applies for C. mississippiensis, which nests within living plants and probably appreciates considerably more humidity.

Colobopsis impressa is one of the better known species in the genus, and they can be very common within their range. In my area, I routinely attract hundreds of alates utilizing blacklights during the first very warm and humid nights in late May and June. I’ve found them most common in and near mature hardwood forests with fairly mesic conditions, but they can persist in a wide variety of habitat types so long as they have plenty of arboreal nesting opportunities in the form of dead branches/twigs, or plenty of vines scaling up into the canopy.

Their diet in the wild seems to be exclusively liquid. I’ve seen workers in close association with honeydew producing Hemiptera and have frequently seen them feeding on bird droppings along low lying branches. Colonies are small, with no more than 250 workers and a few dozen majors in the largest nest.

Here’s an excerpt from Ants of Florida: Identification and Natural History, by Mark Deyrup:

“Colonies may only persist for a few years, judging by the size of field colonies and the longevity of laboratory colonies. Suitable nesting sites may be limited, and dead twigs are subject to breakage, circumstances that may give an evolutionary advantage to lineages that invest heavily in reproduction and less in long-term maintenance. The number of reproductives is correlated in this study with the number of majors, possibly because the food-storing majors maintain food supplies during the time reproductives are larvae. All this may mean that colonies end up somewhat understaffed with foragers.”

Captive care for the species usually begins with freshly caught queens. Something important to note is that dealates can be uncommon finds, and queens only occasionally remove their wings once captured. Despite this, they’re usually fertile if they’ve appeared at a light. I suspect arboreal ants such as them often continue to fly long after they’ve mated, until they locate an elevated position deemed suitable before removing their wings.

Queens can found together via pleometrosis, but I’ve never attempted such a setup and am unaware of how it’d go long term; all the founding/mature colonies I’ve seen or captured have always been monogynous. Queens can be started in standard test tube setups, but they truly appreciate as cramped a founding nest as possible. If provided with such, they’re usually quick to lay eggs. (Otherwise, they can take weeks) My favorite method of founding them is simple and utilizes glass blowing tubes with one end plugged with a wad of hot glue, (as blowing tubes are open ended) and the other end capped with cotton. I provide no water reservoir—this species, like many arboreal ants, is highly tolerant to desiccation—but I try to feed the queens carbohydrates before I put them away for founding. I’ll usually check a few times during the founding process and offer them water/sugar water on a piece of foil pushed into the tube with a thin metal wire, but only if the queens are looking thin.

The first brood is small and usually consists of 2-4 workers, but it’s easy sailing once they’ve arrived. I offer the first workers a sugar meal in the tube as soon as they will take one, and then immediately remove the cotton plug and install an entrance. To do so I simply hot-glue a thin piece of firm cardboard (like the type cereal boxes are made of, but avoid any pieces with inks/dyes) cut to size to fit flush over the tube opening. I poke a 1-1.5mm wide hole in the middle (this entrance will allow the observation of door-guarding behavior when the first major arrives, and even the queen will guard in very young colonies) and then place the entire tube in an appropriately sized foraging container, preferably in an elevated position to simulate an arboreal nest.

They need no additional nest humidity at all, but it’s important to provide fresh water in the outworld at all times using a test tube or byformica feeder. Workers will collect it at will, and the queen/majors serve as liquid stores. Diet should consist of frequent carbohydrate feedings (sugar/honey water, byformica sunburst, etc.) and crushed insects. (Crickets, mealworms, roaches, fruit flies, etc.) Insect hemolymph is mined out of dead prey provided in the outworld and the majority of protein is taken back to the nest in liquid form. Dry/uncrushed insects are often ignored, so accessible liquids should be prioritized when feeding solid foods for best success.

In the large colonies I have sustained to maturity, I also provided fresh bird droppings (from my pet conure; feces from granivorous/frugivorous birds seem preferred) every week, the liquids in which were avidly imbibed. Tree frog feces also seems to work well. If you’re feeling adventurous, human urine (sourced from someone non-medicated, on a healthy diet) can serve as a suitable urea substitute. They may or may not do just fine without any urea in the form of bird feces/human urine, especially if one feeds lots of roaches. (Which have large uric acid stores)

In much of their range they will need to be provided a winter dormancy, during which brood production either halts or slows down dramatically. The length and intensity of such will depend on the locale the queen originates from. I do so by moving mine to a cool corner of the house where temperatures average 68-72 degrees during the night/day, but only when the coinciding outside temperature drops have allowed for cooler temperature indoors. (All my ants are exposed to consistent 75-78 degree temps during the growing season) Ants from colder climates may need significantly lower temperatures for healthy dormancy.

I’ve only attempted to rear a handful of Colobopsis colonies long term, (truth be told, I usually lose interest in them fairly quickly) but the ones I’ve used the above methods on have had a near perfect success rate. By the time they approach the 12 month mark the next year, they have had 100+ workers and were in the process of rearing dozens of alates.

Glass blowing tubes: https://www.ebay.com...lcAAOSw4CFY10Cq

Much appreciated, I have her with an Ash twig where I have removed the pith, as noted.  I will see how she does.  



#6 Offline Mdrogun - Posted July 10 2020 - 10:42 AM

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When I was in Southern Illinois recently, I saw Colobopsis cf. mississippiensis. The workers would occasionally come down to the ground to forage. Because of this, I would highly suspect that they don't eat a purely liquid diet like Colobopsis impressa. I also have 3 queens that I caught, so we can kind of help each other with them as things develop, if you'd like. I'm not sure if they are Colobopsis impressa or Colobopsis mississippiensis but I haven't really put any effort into ID yet; I'm just going to wait for workers. The colonies were nesting high up in the canopy, in living trees, so I suspect that at least one of my queens is Colobopsis mississippiensis. My queens are in test tubes right now but I am contemplating changing things around. 


Currently Keeping:
Trachymyrmex septentrionalis

Pheidole pilifera

Forelius sp. (Monogynous, bicolored) "Midwestern Forelius"
Crematogaster cerasi

Pheidole bicarinata

Aphaenogaster rudis

Camponotus chromaiodes

Formica sp. (microgena species)

Nylanderia cf. arenivega


#7 Offline SuperFrank - Posted July 10 2020 - 2:05 PM

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Isn't impressa significantly larger? Also they have a lot of white banding on their gasters and mississipiensis doesn't and is darker overall iirc

#8 Offline VenomousBeast - Posted July 10 2020 - 3:31 PM

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I recently caught 6 queens (one of which is now dead, so 5 queens). I put them in a small test tube setup and then added a red straw (which I cut down the middle and made smaller in diameter) within 2 days they laid eggs. They are all together and what interests me more is that I have both C. ob. And C. impressa! They are all working together well despite being different species and they’ve piled their eggs together, which is about 9-12 right now!

Keeps:

1:Pogonomymex occidentalis

4: Tetramorium immigrans

2 Reticulitermes flavipes


#9 Offline madbiologist - Posted July 10 2020 - 5:44 PM

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To add to this thread, Ohioans who have attempted to raise missisippiensis have found that they will not lay without pleometrosis, so we suspect that they are obligate pleometrophic, if not polygynous.

Edited by madbiologist, July 10 2020 - 5:59 PM.

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#10 Offline SuperFrank - Posted July 10 2020 - 7:19 PM

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I recently caught 6 queens (one of which is now dead, so 5 queens). I put them in a small test tube setup and then added a red straw (which I cut down the middle and made smaller in diameter) within 2 days they laid eggs. They are all together and what interests me more is that I have both C. ob. And C. impressa! They are all working together well despite being different species and they’ve piled their eggs together, which is about 9-12 right now!


I have also successfully gotten C impressa and C obliqua to found together and the colony lasted several months before dying off due to my own negligence
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