1106 replies to this topic

[TennesseeAnts]

That’s such a nice colony! How many queens are in there?

There are 4 queens in that colony. I have another, similar sized founding colony with 15 queens.  They flew last year, judging by the small size of their workers.

[TechAnt]

You were not kidding when you told me on Antennal Scrobe’s Journal that your’s is long. Awesome!

[CatsnAnts]

That’s such a nice colony! How many queens are in there?

There are 4 queens in that colony. I have another, similar sized founding colony with 15 queens.  They flew last year, judging by the small size of their workers.

15 queens!? I can only imagine what the first batch of eggs will look like, let alone the colony after a year or two haha.

[TennesseeAnts]

 

 

That’s such a nice colony! How many queens are in there?

There are 4 queens in that colony. I have another, similar sized founding colony with 15 queens.  They flew last year, judging by the small size of their workers.

15 queens!? I can only imagine what the first batch of eggs will look like, let alone the colony after a year or two haha.

 

Haha, yeah. They've already laid about 200 new eggs... Next year will be insane.

[TennesseeAnts]

Update; 6/27/20

Camponotus americanus; Colonies #1 & #2
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Both Urd and Skuld have their first worker. Skuld does have more pupae, but Urd has more larvae and eggs. Both nanitics are super cute, hiding underneath mom! I'll grab some pics sometime tonight.

 

Camponotus castaneus; Queen #1

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She kinda drowned in condensation... Whoops!

 

Camponotus pennsylvanicus; Colony #1

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Verdandi has 17 or 18 workers now, with a good brood pile going. One of the larvae looks to be a median larva, with a few more that just look like normal worker larvae. They have been taking lots of sugar water and roaches lately, usually one serving of each a day. Verdandi is physogastric now, and she is starting to get fairly big. It might just be extra sugar water, but I'm hoping its eggs. 

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, June 27 2020 - 6:13 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

Here's the video, containing the details in the description: 

 

[Antkid12]

Nice video! 

[TennesseeAnts]

Nice video!

Thank you!

[TennesseeAnts]

Pic of a T. sessile queen and her first three nanitics munching on a roach leg:



New journal update later today. I haven't had much time recently to update, but some cool stuff has happened!

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, July 16 2020 - 3:01 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Pic of a T. sessile queen and her first three nanitics munching on a roach leg:

WP_20200716_006.jpg

New journal update later today. I haven't had much time recently to update, but some cool stuff has happened!

Ahhh, my favorite species...

[Kaelwizard]

Pic of a T. sessile queen and her first three nanitics munching on a roach leg:

WP_20200716_006.jpg

New journal update later today. I haven't had much time recently to update, but some cool stuff has happened!

Ahhh, my favorite species...

Hope the Divas didn’t hear that!

[ANTdrew]

Sarcasm

[madbiologist]

Tapinoma are pretty interesting tbh, with all the inbreeding, as well as their biology.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[Kaelwizard]

Sarcasm

I was joking.

[TennesseeAnts]

OK guys, sorry for the long wait... Got kinda busy... Pics will come shortly.

 

Update; 7/24/20

 

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

---------------------------------------

She is doing great! Verdandi has close to 35 workers now, with some majors on the way; finally! I moved them to a new test tube yesterday, which went smoothly. I covered the new tube, and exposed them to light. It didn't take long for them to move. Unfortunately, they moved an old roach carcass with them... 

 

Camponotus americanus

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Skuld and Urd are up to 2 and 4 workers, respectively. Both have some eggs, small larvae and a pupa. Urd's colony dirtied up the tube, so I moved them to a new one. Both colonies really like roach legs.

 

Camponotus decipiens

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This queen has 5 workers, 4 pupae, 3 large larvae and 10 or so eggs. They need a new tube, as it's pretty dirty now, but I think they can wait for a bit. The first major is only a couple weeks away, as I find that Myrmentoma tend to get their first major at around 10-15 workers. Must have something to do with their small size. 

 

Camponotus caryae

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5 workers, some eggs and small larvae. Pretty much the same story as the C. decipiens.

 

Solenopsis cf. tennesseensis

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I don't think I ever mentioned her, but I have a queen of what I think is S. tennesseensis with 20-30 workers, a bunch of eggs and some larvae and pupae. They have been living off of roach legs and sugar water for the last month or so. The queen is pretty thicc, so that's cool. She is getting ready to lay another batch of eggs.

 

Solenopsis molesta

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On 7/22/20 I got around 20 of these queens in a large flight, and put them all into a tube together. They have a small batch of about 25 eggs, and so far all look to be healthy and fertilized. It shouldn't be long until workers eclose, and when they do, boy there's gonna be a lot...

 

Solenopsis picta

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I got these 2 tiny queens in a small flight last week, and they have a batch of maybe 15 eggs so far. A really cool looking Thief Ant, in my opinion.

 

Brachyponera chinensis

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These 3 queens have done well, with 25-30 workers now, 30 or so eggs, 15 larvae and about a dozen pupae. I moved them into a prototype formicarium, which is like one of those old THA Talus nests.

 

Temnothorax pergandei

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The black morph colony has doubled in size, and now has between 75 and 100 workers, with lots of brood in all stages. They keep having small mating flights in their prototype nest. I just gave them a small roach to munch on. The red morph colony isn't doing as well. They have 25-30 workers, some larvae and some pupae. I just moved them into a prototype nest as well, and gave them a couple large roach legs. I don't think I've mentioned these here either...

 

Nothing  significant to report on the Formica colonies.

 

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

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Has slowly increased in numbers, to 45 or so. Not taking a whole lot of seeds, however, they are mostly interested in roaches...

 

Pheidole tysoni

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These two queens have some medium larvae now, and should get workers within 2 weeks.

 

Pheidole dentata

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Back up to 200 or so workers, with lots of new brood. I will move them to a Mini Hearth later this week.

 

Pheidole bicarinata

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These 4 queens are up to 40 ish eggs, 5 small larvae and a couple medium larvae. Should have workers within 2 or so weeks.

 

 

Edit: I have a lot (60+ colonies), so I will go check the rest and see which ones I missed.

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, July 24 2020 - 9:22 AM.

[TennesseeAnts]

New video:

 

[TennesseeAnts]

I made another one:

 

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, July 25 2020 - 10:28 AM.

[TennesseeAnts]

Update: 7/25/20

 

Pheidole tysoni

--------------------

The duo has a pupa visible now! Their other larvae should pupate within a day or two as well. The queens also just laid some new eggs.

[ponerinecat]

nice, pheidole are still a species I need ot get up and running. Hoping my pleometric setup can turn something out.

[CatsnAnts]

Do you guys know if P. tysoni is polygynous?