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Two queens from central Europe on August 2nd 2019

queen id

Best Answer ponerinecat , August 2 2019 - 3:21 PM

They are some sort of polyergus. Really difficult to raise, as they are a slave raiding species and cannot sustain or even feed themselves.

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#1 Offline Quizzie - Posted August 2 2019 - 11:53 AM

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We caught two more queens today. Sorry for spamming this section recently, but we've been lucky these few days!
I have no idea what they are. They have very different coloration, but otherwise look the same
 
Location of collection: Czech Republic
Date of collection: August 2nd 2019
Habitat of collection: park on city edge
Length: 9-11 mm (one is slightly bigger)

Coloration: red head and thorax, gaster is silver in the first and red in the other queen

Texture: shiny; slightly hairy gaster

 

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Formica cinerea (queen of 2018)

Formica rufibarbis (queen of 2019)

Formica pratensis? (queen of 2020)


#2 Offline Acutus - Posted August 2 2019 - 12:15 PM

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I have no idea but they are AWESOME looking ants for sure!! :D


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Billy

 

Currently keeping:

Camponotus chromaiodes

Camponotus castaneus

Formica subsericea


#3 Offline ponerinecat - Posted August 2 2019 - 3:21 PM   Best Answer

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They are some sort of polyergus. Really difficult to raise, as they are a slave raiding species and cannot sustain or even feed themselves.



#4 Offline ponerinecat - Posted August 2 2019 - 3:25 PM

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If you really want to raise them, you will need a portion of a formica colony with workers and brood. You will also need to supply the colony with formica brood whenever they need new slaves. Once the colony is founded, the loss of their formica slaves will mean death unless you can artificially hatch a worker(Which is not that hard.).



#5 Offline ponerinecat - Posted August 2 2019 - 3:27 PM

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They are really rewarding to raise, though, and fascinating to watch. Some people have reported slave rebellions and polyergus workers supressing or being swarmed by the rebellion.



#6 Offline Acutus - Posted August 2 2019 - 6:19 PM

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Sounds like an Ants game of thrones!

Billy

 

Currently keeping:

Camponotus chromaiodes

Camponotus castaneus

Formica subsericea


#7 Offline Quizzie - Posted August 2 2019 - 9:40 PM

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Wow, thank you! So it must be Polyergus rufescens, though we caught pretty dark ones (especially the first). There's no other Polyergus species here.

 

I don't feel like raising slave-raiders, so they'll be going back into the wild. Though they do look awesome!


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Formica cinerea (queen of 2018)

Formica rufibarbis (queen of 2019)

Formica pratensis? (queen of 2020)






Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: queen id

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