54 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

5-26-2013
 
I caught this Camponotus anthrax queen May 26th 2013, under a small rock along side a fire road in the Cleveland
National Forest of Southern California.
Original ID thread: http://antfarm.yuku.com/topic/16071
 



 

 

 

 
She laid eggs a few days later.
 

 
My original journal was lost, so unfortunately I don't have records of when the first workers arrived.
 

 
This colony got up to about eight workers, and then a few died off. Near the end of July, the remaining four workers for some reason ate all of their brood one day. I actually watched them tear a cocoon open and eat the entire pupa inside. A few weeks later, they had a couple new larvae again.

Edited by dspdrew, June 20 2020 - 3:46 PM.
Added new microscope pictures.

[dspdrew]

Update 8-9-2013

 

My Camponotus essigi queen  died today, so I gave its brood to this colony. This was just a couple of larvae, one of which was quite a bit larger than the rest. They accepted it all and immediately added it to their pile of brood.

[dspdrew]

Update 9-25-2013

 

Nothing has changed much with this colony, but by now all the brood, including the brood taken from the C. essigi colony has pupated. The one larva that was larger than the rest continued to grow bigger and bigger, and is now a cocoon about three times the size of all the other cocoons, not a whole lot smaller than the queen that produced it. It's suspected that the extra large brood the C. essigi queen produced might possibly be an alate.

[dspdrew]

Update 9-29-2013
 
Yesterday the large cocoon eclosed, and it was indeed an alate--a male. At first the workers spent a while (what looked like) trying to remove its wings. They successfully removed one wing, but the rest still remain.
 

 
 
So far they all seem to be getting along, and at one point, it looked like the queen was even feeding the male.

 

[dspdrew]

Update 3-18-2014
 
Over time this queen seemed to kill off her workers and the one male, or they just died off and she dismantled them or ate them... I don't know. Eventually she had no workers left at all. Now, after about a month and a half, she has five new larvae.

[dspdrew]

5-10-2014
 
On Saturday 5-3-2014 I found this Camponotus cf. quercicola anthrax queen wandering on a dirt road up in a place called Little Thomas Mountain in the San Jacinto Mountains. It was a few hours after dark, and the temperature was in the 50's.
 
ID Thread: https://www.formicul...s-ca-6-21-2014/
 
1. Location of collection:  Little Thomas Mountain, San Jacinto Mountains, California.
2. Date of collection:  5-3-2014.
3. Habitat of collection:  Pine/Oak Forest.
4. Length (from head to gaster):  11mm.
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture:  All black with dark brown legs; yellow hairs, numerous on cheeks.
6. Distinguishing characteristics:  No clypeal carina or notch.
 

 

 

 

 
 
Edit: I have added microscope pictures of this queen since it died.
 
Edit: I have removed my guess as to the ID of this queen, since I have recently found a C. quercicola queen, and there are just too many differences.

Edited by dspdrew, June 20 2020 - 3:47 PM.

[dspdrew]

Update 5-29-2014
 
This Little Thomas Mountain queen laid eggs, and then ate them all. She went for a week or so with nothing, and then now has laid more eggs again.

[Gregory2455]

Any Update?

[dspdrew]

Update 7-8-2014
 
Finally the Little Thomas Mountain queen has some brood that is developing.    At this point she has two cocooned pupae, and a few larvae. There is some debate over what species she really is--or even genus, but at this point I can't see what else she could possibly be other than C. quercicola, even though she is quite small for one of those. We'll get a much better idea once her workers eclose.

[Chromerust]

I definitely have one of these too Drew. It came from Little Thomas mountan. It's probably eaten a hundred eggs by now. Last week I stuck her in the warmest spot I can find and am leaving her undisturbed for a few weeks. Hopefully she will be a good girl now.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-19-2014
 
The Little Thomas Mountain queen's first nanitic eclosed yesterday and it's definitely Camponotus. I'm still not sure what species it is though, because the nanitic worker is only about 4 mm in length.
 

 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Update 7-21-2014
 
After about six months without workers, the first queen just had another worker eclose, with another close behind. Let's hope she doesn't murder them all this time.

[Mathiacus]

What a vicious fail-mum. I hope you have her far from your other queens, she is bad news ;-)

[Gregory2455]

I want a Camponotus! Very jealous of all your journals though still.

[Gregory2455]

What has happened?

[dspdrew]

She never finished helping the worker eclose, and it died. I think she then ate the other one again, so she has nothing now.

[Gregory2455]

or even genus

What else would she have been?

[dspdrew]

Well it was unclear enough for James C. Trager to think she was possibly Formica at one point.

[dean_k]

May I ask what ant queens do with the cotton? They seem to ... sort of braid it? For fun? Or maybe sucking water out of it?

Edited by dean_k, October 18 2014 - 8:58 AM.

[dspdrew]

They just keep pulling at it for reasons I don't exactly know. Maybe they're trying to dig toward the moisture more? Maybe they're trying to dispose of parts of it? Could be lots of things.