52 replies to this topic

[Aaron567]

January 5, 2021

 

It has been 3 weeks since the last update, and the colony has gone from around 240 workers to over 280. Not a huge jump, but they have a very large pile of pupae that will be eclosing in the next 1-2 weeks that should push their worker count to around 450-500, which would be their largest jump in worker count thus far. I do not have their new nest attached yet, but will very soon, as the colony is now running out of room in their fortress to the point where they are keeping pupae in the outworld most of the time. The queen has also been laying plenty of eggs lately, so I don't think they're slowing down anytime soon.

 

Also, I changed the name of the journal from Camponotus conspicuus inaequalis to Camponotus zonatus because a couple of myrmecologists have recently agreed that Camponotus tortuganus can be changed to Camponotus inaequalis and Camponotus conspicuus inaequalis should be changed to zonatus. This change has already been partly reflected on AntWeb and AntMaps, except for the fact that the C. c. inaequalis records from Florida have yet to be transferred to zonatus. A future taxonomic paper regarding this is in preparation currently.

 

 

Here is the nest I will be attaching. The only problem is that it isn't a whole lot larger than their current nest and they'll probably outgrow this one within a few short weeks. So, once they're in this nest I will work on a new nest for them that is truly the size they need.

 

 

And here is a recent video.

Edited by Aaron567, January 5 2021 - 7:52 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

C. tortuganus-complex is just a huge mess as it is, especially with all the hybrids lol.
Great looking colony, though. What're you feeding them to make them grow so quickly?

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, January 5 2021 - 11:39 PM.

[KitsAntVa]

This genus grows fast in general, I went back and read this and they look so cool. Camponotus are my favorite because of their striped coloration in some genus, But I don't have the patience to have only 15 workers at the end of the year. 

[TechAnt]

Great photo shots!

[Aaron567]

C. tortuganus-complex is just a huge mess as it is, especially with all the hybrids lol.

 

Yeah, but it seems that they may have figured it out, in Florida at least, based on erect hair placement on the sides and top of the head that supposedly differentiates C. zonatus morphologically from C. inaequalis (formerly tortuganus). They had to get rid of the tortuganus name in Florida because they found out that the type specimen of tortuganus is actually from the Bahamas, not Florida (it was mislabeled as being from Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys), and the Bahamas form does not match anything that has been found in Florida so far.

 

Great looking colony, though. What're you feeding them to make them grow so quickly?

 

They're still receiving small roaches and sugar water about 5-6 days per week.

[TennesseeAnts]

 

C. tortuganus-complex is just a huge mess as it is, especially with all the hybrids lol.

 

Yeah, but it seems that they may have figured it out, in Florida at least, based on erect hair placement on the sides and top of the head that supposedly differentiates C. zonatus morphologically from C. inaequalis (formerly tortuganus). They had to get rid of the tortuganus name in Florida because they found out that the type specimen of tortuganus is actually from the Bahamas, not Florida (it was mislabeled as being from Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys), and the Bahamas form does not match anything that has been found in Florida so far.

 

Great looking colony, though. What're you feeding them to make them grow so quickly?

 

They're still receiving small roaches and sugar water about 5-6 days per week.

 

Ah, makes sense. I remember reading somewhere that our C. tortuganus might not actually even be C. tortuganus because of some mix up, so thanks for clarifying that!

[Devi]

Easily has the best pics I have EVER seen on the forum.  I love it.  

[TennesseeAnts]

Easily has the best pics I have EVER seen on the forum.  I love it.  

No doubt about it!

[Bobby_Hill]

Maybe try making a nest like the THA Labyrinth I think its too much effort for the colony to move the pupae too the top chambers

[Aaron567]

January 27, 2021

 

I was going to wait until I was done building an even larger nest to post another update, but I just did a worker count on this colony and found out that they've made a tremendous jump in colony size, quite a bit larger than the jump I expected. Workers are practically filling both nests now and there are constantly over 100 workers in their little Fortress outworld, but all the brood is currently being kept in the new nest due to it being heated with a heat cable.

 

Also wasn't planning on doing a count until getting them into a larger nest, but I figured why not do one today. I counted approximately 676 workers, and it's possible that could be a slight underestimate because counting workers in the Fortress is challenging. Before counting I had figured that they'd most likely passed 500 based on the future estimates I made a few weeks ago, but the fact that they've passed 650 blows my mind. So, in 3 weeks they jumped from 280 workers to about 676, which is about 241% growth. It has now been 6.6 months since the first worker eclosed.

 

Since the mass eclosion of several hundred workers, I've noticed that their pile of pupae is not quite as large, perhaps a sign that slightly slower growth is to follow. It could be merely a short break, however. There are still a few hundred eggs. In the past I was always under the impression that both this species and its close relative Camponotus inaequalis (formerly tortuganus) max out at less than 2,000 workers so surely this colony won't keep up this explosive growth for long.. but we'll see.

 

When I took these pictures there were around 275 workers in the green nest, 270+ in the Fortress, and 131 in the outworld.

 

 

 

A few days ago I casted these two nests that I will be attaching together to function as one large nest for this colony. I just need to cut the glass, attach a wooden board to the bottom (so that everything is in one piece), and paint, and it'll be good to go. Might be complete about 4 days from now. My intention is to move the entire colony into this setup, so hopefully it's large enough. By looking at it I think it could fit beyond a thousand workers.

 

[antsandmore]

cool. How do you make the part that looks like mesh(I'm assuming you hydrate through there)

[KitsAntVa]

most underrated journals on here?!

[Aaron567]

cool. How do you make the part that looks like mesh(I'm assuming you hydrate through there)

 

They are hydration containers that have mesh over the open end. I put them in before pouring the plaster and they are attached to the little external tubes so that I can water them from outside.

[benxixi]

they are so beautiful !! what camera do you use ? the picture is so clear and looks like 4k 

[Aaron567]

February 19, 2021

 

This colony is now surpassing 845 workers, meaning they've gained around 170 workers in the last 23 days. Most of the colony is living in the new large nest that I made them. The square green nest is entirely disconnected from the setup now, so it's just the Fortress and the large nest (which is just two nests attached together) now. Right now there are about 130 workers hanging out in the Fortress with no brood, and that number has been dwindling as I've allowed the fortress to dry up. They are basically filling the large nest but are just not packed very tightly yet. It looks like that will change soon though, because they have another large generation of workers getting ready to hatch out. I'll make another nest to attach soon.

 

I took the heat cable off of the glass to get pictures, but they usually have all the brood, including the eggs, crowded right by the heat cable along with the queen. I'm surprised that they love the heat that much, and especially surprised that it's not too hot for the eggs.

 

[Aaron567]

March 20, 2021

 

I just did a worker count today and there are more than 1,645 workers, which is almost twice as many as there were just one month ago. It has been about 8.5 months since the first nanitic hatched. For several weeks there have been 200-300 workers camping out in the old fortress at all times (despite the water reservoir being dry), but today I was finally able to get them moved out of it and detached it from the setup, losing around 30 workers in the process. The Fortress outworld remains attached, but probably not for long. The colony is using a new, larger outworld for eating, drinking, and.. sitting around. For some reason over a hundred workers like to sit in the outworld constantly, doing absolutely nothing. I have also attached a new nest expansion since the last update and they're already filling that up decently.

 

Even after all the growth that has happened over the last month, there is a very large amount of brood and the queen is physogastric, producing larger numbers of eggs than ever before. Just saying, this is a species that I thought had "small" colonies, so if they're reaching these numbers at this rate then I'm really not sure what number they're going to max out or mature at.

 

Edited by Aaron567, March 20 2021 - 10:57 AM.

[NickAnter]

Incredible! Such a beautiful species.

[Bobby_Hill]

update?

[NoveltyAntsYT]

update?

[ArmansAnts]

Very cool, update when?!