Jump to content

  • Chat
  •  
  •  

Welcome to Formiculture.com!

This is a website for anyone interested in Myrmecology and all aspects of finding, keeping, and studying ants. The site and forum are free to use. Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads, give reputation points to your fellow members, get your own private messenger, post status updates, manage your profile and so much more. If you already have an account, login here - otherwise create an account for free today!

Photo

Camponotus Majors


  • Please log in to reply
3 replies to this topic

#1 Offline jdsaunders1390 - Posted October 25 2017 - 7:12 AM

jdsaunders1390

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 86 posts
  • LocationCentral Florida

Hello! I caught 3 Camponotus floridanus queens on 7/8/17 and have been raising them since then. Two of the colonies have approximately 20 workers, while the other has around 15. One of the larger colonies now has its first major worker. Is that unusual? This is my first season of catching queens, but everything I have read about Camponotus is that they will not typically create majors until at least their second year. Granted, I believe that mostly applies to northern species that must be hibernated, however, less than 4 months seems pretty quick. What do you all think? Also, am I doing this correctly by not hibernating these ants since I live in Florida?

 

 

Bonus: The two larger colonies were started in test tubes, while the smaller one was started in an Atom C. After the colonies hit around 7 workers (which was a little over 2 months after catching the queens), I put them all in tupperware containers and opened the founding chambers so the small tupperwares could serve as outworlds. The two test tube colonies did well. The Atom C colony, however, eventually moved out of the Atom C and into a bare corner of the outworld almost 3 months after catching the queen. I added a test tube setup to that outworld and the colony moved into that. A few workers would explore the Atom C after the move, but the queen and brood stayed in the test tube and never moved back into the founding formicarium.



#2 Offline Runner12 - Posted October 25 2017 - 8:39 AM

Runner12

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 222 posts
They seem to grow a lot quicker than other Camponotus species. My two floridanus colonies from this year have about 30 workers each and both have just produced a small major.

Time from egg to adult is shorter too with this species, or seems to be.

Edited by Runner12, October 25 2017 - 8:42 AM.

  • jdsaunders1390 likes this

#3 Offline Pleming - Posted October 25 2017 - 2:41 PM

Pleming

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 90 posts
  • LocationLong Beach, CA

It's not unusual to see majors that soon. The majors you are seeing are still pretty small compared to the ones that will come later. I have majors in my C. Modoc colony almost as big as the queen. 



#4 Offline ultraex2 - Posted October 26 2017 - 8:13 AM

ultraex2

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 275 posts

I experienced a simlar thing with my C. Pennsylvanicus colony -  at about 25ish workers a pair of smaller majors hatched.  They are definitely bigger than the workers and have the "major" head, especially when compared to the other ants, but I'm sure there will be much bigger ones in the next year or so.






1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users