35 replies to this topic

[CatsnAnts]

Here are some more pictures of their brood pile. Lots of eggs are being layed, and I’m still not sure if worker pupae is present? Guess I’ll have to wait and see:

[AntsDakota]

Eh, I’m still seeing all male pupae.

[TennesseeAnts]

I'm seeing both male and worker pupae.

[CatsnAnts]

I'm seeing both male and worker pupae.

I think I see some too. Is it possible for pupae to grow in size? Because if not then those smaller pupae appear to be workers (considering they lack the wing muscles and small heads?). I really have no idea, I’m not very good at identification haha.

[TennesseeAnts]

 

I'm seeing both male and worker pupae.

I think I see some too. Is it possible for pupae to grow in size? Because if not then those smaller pupae appear to be workers (considering they lack the wing muscles and small heads?). I really have no idea, I’m not very good at identification haha.

 

No, those pupae are as big as they're gonna get. You may have a gamerate or fertilized worker within your colony. I'll do some research and post what I come up with.

[NickAnter]

That's really amazing. I see many worker pupae in those pictures!

[CatsnAnts]

 

 

I'm seeing both male and worker pupae.

I think I see some too. Is it possible for pupae to grow in size? Because if not then those smaller pupae appear to be workers (considering they lack the wing muscles and small heads?). I really have no idea, I’m not very good at identification haha.

 

No, those pupae are as big as they're gonna get. You may have a gamerate or fertilized worker within your colony. I'll do some research and post what I come up with.

 

Thank you! That would be really neat if this colony had a fertilized worker, I can always hope! And just to confirm that it is indeed a worker laying these eggs, I will probably wait until this current round of eggs pupates to know for certain since I know for a fact that this batch was from workers.

 

That's really amazing. I see many worker pupae in those pictures!

The more confirmation the better. I’m almost certain that those pupae would have had to been produced by a worker considering the number of males currently present in the colony which means the the queen surely hasn’t been around for a while? I don’t know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This is all just exciting lol.

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 10 2020 - 12:36 PM.

[ForestDragon]

temnothorax are quite intriguing, I have a colony of Temnothorax shaumii, and they develop very slowly, I've had them since february and they only now have their first pupae

[CatsnAnts]

temnothorax are quite intriguing, I have a colony of Temnothorax shaumii, and they develop very slowly, I've had them since february and they only now have their first pupae

For such small ants, they really are an awesome species. I love everything about them (except the slow development time of course).

[CatsnAnts]

Another update on these ants, even thought this is really nothing important as of right now. I did worker and male count of the entire colony, and I found:
20 workers (+-1)
~28 males (not including pupae)
Also, it appears as though the egg pile has been moved to one location rather than two separate locations (you can see a portion of the egg pile in the bottom/middle of the photo):


This next photo is a more up-close on the egg pile, but I noticed the male has something unknown coming out of his abdomen in the center of the photo, probably normal:

And these last three photos are showing the worker pupae/the huge amount of males in this colony:



So ya, it’s starting to seem more and more plausible that a worker could be fertilized? I’ll likely be updating this “journal” a lot considering I don’t really have much else exciting going on.

[CatsnAnts]

Just a quick update:

 

The colony as a whole is doing very well, everything is organized and the brood is continuing to develop into worker pupae. Yesterday morning, I pulled out the cotton in order to clean their test tube/feed then some honey, and as a result, one worker scrambled out and was accidentally crushed. I fear that this worker was the fertilized one, but the odds are very low considering the total number of workers in the test tube. This worker in particular was also on the smaller side, so less of a chance that it was fertilized. I don’t really want any more accidental deaths right now,  so I am not going to open their test tube for any reason until my next shipment of inception chambers come in (which should be any day now), which I am considering moving the colony into. I might wait, however, until it is confirmed that a fertilized worker is present to move them simply because I don’t want to screw things up. Also, the honey in their test tube should be enough to last them for a while, but protein might be an issue.

[AntsDakota]

Usually the fertilized one would probably not be the first to rush out.

[CatsnAnts]

After closer examination, there appears to be a worker with an abnormally large abdomen hanging around the egg pile who I suspect could possibly be fertilized. I will post pictures when I get my camera working again. More and more eggs are appearing every day, and they are all in a neat pile. Also, I just found a deformed male with its head inside of its thorax, pretty strange.

[CatsnAnts]

More pictures, as promised, as well as an update. The colony as a whole is doing very well, still, even though it’s only been a about a week since I got them 0-0. Anyways, there brood pile is still “expanding” from what it seems, and the worker with the larger abdomen can be seen in the photos below (although it appears there are TWO workers with large abdomens, could just be “repletes” storing the honey I fed them though). Other than that, nothing else is really going on except for a lot more worker pupae developing:




On a side note, I might start a journal on these gals considering this is just someone else’s post that I kinda’ sorta’ hijacked, whoops.

Also, I’ve been doing a lot of research and it seems like this species is not known to be able to produce fertilized workers, so could this be something new?

Edit: Also, after looking back on some previous photos and at my current colony of T. curvispinosus, I can’t seem to find any “repletes” of this size in my other colonies. It also seems like there were a few workers with larger abdomens before I gave this colony some honey (as can be seen with previous photos on this thread).

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 14 2020 - 12:21 PM.

[AntsDakota]

You could have two fertilized workers. Workers aren’t very adept at laying eggs, so a colony would probably need several gamergates in order to truly thrive.

[futurebird]

bumping this and hoping for an update... was the colony able to sustain itself?