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Monomorium Minimum Info

Started By Nanos , Nov 19 2018 7:45 PM
minimum monomorium

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153 replies to this topic

#21 Offline PurdueEntomology - Posted July 17 2020 - 6:42 AM

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I hope the queens live longer than a year!! Or at least I get reproductive brood to perhaps have them mate...oh well, just another challenge.


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#22 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 17 2020 - 6:50 AM

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Let’s document our findings on here. My three queens have a big egg pile now. It’s funny how they’re all huddled over the eggs in a circle. They don’t care at all being checked on.

Edited by ANTdrew, July 17 2020 - 6:59 AM.

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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#23 Offline PurdueEntomology - Posted July 17 2020 - 7:57 AM

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Let’s document our findings on here. My three queens have a big egg pile now. It’s funny how they’re all huddled over the eggs in a circle. They don’t care at all being checked on.

yes, I can do that, I have been taking some macro photos of them to keep progress checks...I really like this species so it is good to start from scratch and see how they develop.


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#24 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 21 2020 - 9:13 AM

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Monomorium minimum flew again this morning after some heavy thunderstorms we had last night. I came across a huge flight in the parking lot of a nature park by my home. This time, males were landing on queens perched on the blades of grass and even just on the curb. Many of the queens were already wingless, so I don't think they really fly much at all. I collected four more queens and added them to my three queen grouping (whose egg pile keeps growing). And then there were seven.

 


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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#25 Offline Nogbert - Posted July 21 2020 - 9:25 AM

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i caught a queen yesterday that i assumed to be Mono. min. but after seeing your pics I'm not sure. the queen i have is considerably smaller (!)


#26 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 21 2020 - 9:29 AM

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Monomorium queens and males are WAY bigger than you'd expect; the size discrepancy between workers and reproductives must be one of the biggest I've seen.


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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#27 Offline Nogbert - Posted July 21 2020 - 10:25 AM

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huh, interesting. really need a macro lens to get a good pic of this queen... i'd say it's like 4mm long


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#28 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 21 2020 - 10:32 AM

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That sounds about right, sizewise.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#29 Offline Nanos - Posted July 21 2020 - 8:54 PM

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Oh man i'm so happy there is more interest in Monomorium minimum right now. This year (2020) in central kansas besides one wandering queen on july 5th  i've only seen alates on July 17 (after a storm), they were on a tall structure and the whole colony was out, males would land to mate with the female but would get attack by the workers (first time seeing this). Despite being attacked the males still sought out females and mated with them. i also saw some females being attacked. This to me suggest that some females flew to that location. 

 

They definitely live more than a year, i have two colonies with multiple queens from 2019, one has 4 the other i think 3. Their population was very low last year but right now they are exploding (I'll post pictures at some point). I'm interested to know if they can have a healthy colony with one queen, i tried in 2018 but they died. I killed all the workers while hibernating and they never recovered from that. This year i have 2 groups of 3 queens and 3 individual queens, we will see how they do. 

 

I am all in for documenting what we find. I'll update the first post as much as i can with all the info you guys have shared. 


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#30 Offline ponerinecat - Posted July 22 2020 - 9:51 AM

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Man, seeing minimum alates makes ergatogyna pale in comparison.


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#31 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 22 2020 - 9:57 AM

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Man, seeing minimum alates makes ergatogyna pale in comparison.

How so?
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#32 Offline ponerinecat - Posted July 22 2020 - 9:58 AM

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They're much smaller, thinner, and less interesting looking.


#33 Offline VoidElecent - Posted July 22 2020 - 10:02 AM

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I've always wanted to keep Monomorium minimum; one of my favorite species


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#34 Offline NickAnter - Posted July 22 2020 - 10:06 AM

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The Monomorium here have alate queens that are only 3mm long. And they are indistinguishable to the naked eye from the black solenopsis sp that is here.


Hi there! I went on a 6 month or so hiatus, in part due, and in part cause of the death of my colonies. 

However, I went back to the Sierras, and restarted my collection, which is now as follows:

Aphaenogaster uinta, Camponotus vicinus, Camponotus modoc, Formica cf. aserva, Formica cf. micropthalma, Formica cf. manni, Formica subpolita, Formica cf. subaenescens, Lasius americanus, Manica invidia, Pogonomyrmex salinus, Pogonomyrmex sp. 1, Solenopsis validiuscula, & Solenopsis sp. 3 (new Sierra variant). 

#35 Offline ponerinecat - Posted July 22 2020 - 10:11 AM

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Ergatogyna is the only sp recorded in California so far. But it could be something else.


#36 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 27 2020 - 11:46 AM

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Update:

I'm back to just a three queen grouping of these ants. When I checked their tube last, I found two of the new queens died or were killed. The other two were digging at the cotton to get out, so I just let them leave. It seems like the group didn't mesh as easily as I'd hoped.


"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#37 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted July 27 2020 - 1:57 PM

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I've always wanted to keep Monomorium minimum

I know I've already said this, but me too.......


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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans                                  Camponotus vicinus, modoc, novaeboracensis, herculeanus

Formica pallidefulva, argentea                        Solenopsis molesta

Formica cf. aserva                                          Lasius brevicornis, neoniger

Pheidole bicarinata

Lasius claviger

#38 Offline PurdueEntomology - Posted July 27 2020 - 2:12 PM

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IMG 2251
Album: Monomorium minimum
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Some photos of the group effort underway!!


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#39 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 29 2020 - 10:26 AM

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The brood continues to develop nicely in my three queen grouping. I've had them two weeks now:


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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#40 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted July 29 2020 - 12:48 PM

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Crematogastrinis in general seem to grow quite fast, despite the reputation going mostly to Tetramorium.


"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans                                  Camponotus vicinus, modoc, novaeboracensis, herculeanus

Formica pallidefulva, argentea                        Solenopsis molesta

Formica cf. aserva                                          Lasius brevicornis, neoniger

Pheidole bicarinata

Lasius claviger

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