279 replies to this topic

[AntsDakota]

 only coming put at night though, of course.

Unfortunately.......

[Ferox_Formicae]

Prenolepis imparis (Deceased)

 

While pinning her, I was able to figure out why she was unmated, and probably the reason she was out at night anyways. She had a malformed wing! Her left hind wing was shriveled up and was nothing more than a tiny nub thing. If I had noticed this from the beginning, I would've known she was not fertile, though I had kind of figured that in the first place. Here are a picture of her with her deformed wing:

 

 

Crematogaster minutissima Colony A

 

As the water in their test tube has already dried up, I'm now attempting to move them into a new, cleaner tube. However, they have yet to move into it, only moving some of their trash into it. There's definitely still some moisture in the original cotton ball, as there's some condensation in the old water well. Once that dries up though, they'll probably move in. If they don't move in soon though, I'm going to straight up move them into a formicarium, as at the moment, there is no way to feed them with the two test tubes taped together.

 

Crematogaster minutissima Colony B

 

Finally new eggs! I probably should've mentioned this earlier, but small Crematogaster lay massive eggs! It's pretty weird actually, from such a small ant comes such a giant egg. No wonder they need some many dealates in a nest, egg production must take quite a long time. That doesn't explain missouriensis though, as they also lay giant eggs, but colonies are strictly monogynous.

 

Camponotus castaneus Colony A

 

The colony is up to 5 eggs at the moment, and production seems to be going slow, with the queen laying maybe an egg a day. With luck, production will speed up soon, though I doubt she'll lay more than 15 eggs this first clutch. Maybe she'll lay a bit more later on in the year. I'm definitely going to brood boost her a bit more once the wild castaneus colony brood starts to grow up a bit more, and they are already active, so that should be soon. I may boost them with a different species though, depending on what I can find.

[AntsDakota]

Prenolepis imparis (Deceased)

 

While pinning her, I was able to figure out why she was unmated, and probably the reason she was out at night anyways. She had a malformed wing! Her left hind wing was shriveled up and was nothing more than a tiny nub thing. If I had noticed this from the beginning, I would've known she was not fertile, though I had kind of figured that in the first place. Here are a picture of her with her deformed wing:

Could I hire you, detective? I also have an unsolved mystery concerning my Camponotus which had a nasty case of Sudden Queen Death Syndrome.

[Ferox_Formicae]

 

Prenolepis imparis (Deceased)

 

While pinning her, I was able to figure out why she was unmated, and probably the reason she was out at night anyways. She had a malformed wing! Her left hind wing was shriveled up and was nothing more than a tiny nub thing. If I had noticed this from the beginning, I would've known she was not fertile, though I had kind of figured that in the first place. Here are a picture of her with her deformed wing:

Could I hire you, detective? I also have an unsolved mystery concerning my Camponotus which had a nasty case of Sudden Queen Death Syndrome.

 

Classic. You know, this has been happening more and more frequently, and my suspicions are beginning to build about why and how so many innocent queens are dying for seemingly unknown causes...

[Ferox_Formicae]

Camponotus castaneus Colony C

 

Eggs are being laid! Currently, I've only seen two, but given the rate of how rapidly this queen produces, more eggs will certainly be produced very soon as the outside temperature warms and the season begins.

 

Crematogaster minutissima Colony B

 

So they have more workers than I had originally thought, around 50 or so workers. More eggs are being laid by the queen, although at a far slower rate than what is seen in the 12-queen colony, due to what I mentioned yesterday with their giant eggs that are like 1/3 the size of their entire gaster. As I'm sure I have mentioned though, I suspect alate mate within the nest, and with luck, more queens will be produced with time, although maybe not until next season. Only time will tell.

 

Aphaenogaster lamellidens

 

One of the pupa is on the verge of eclosing, and will likely eclose within the next few hours, maybe days though. I love the fact that one of the first things to darken on the pupa (besides the eyes) are the legs, one of the distinguishing features of the species. The legs are pitch black and contrast strongly with the mesosoma, which is a reddish-brown in color. As I'm constantly saying, these ants are some of the most gorgeous ants of the southeast, though I do believe Camponotus socius is more pretty, objectively speaking.

 

Myrmecina americana

 

Wow, they really don't do much, do they? You know, I'm starting to get why Ant_Dude2908 released one of his larger colonies. I don't think I'll be releasing mine though, as I do like the way they look. I like their sculpturing, their double pair of propodeal spines, and their big clypeal and mandibular teeth. They haven't laid yet, and their larvae are growing very slowly. I see the queen occasionally though. However, she doesn't look much different than the workers, only being a tad bit bigger and more robust than they are. I'm gonna go ahead and give them some dead springtails tonight, as that seems to be what they eat the most of, as I can't really find any mites for them (except for the ones that coat their bodies...).

 

Camponotus castaneus Colony B

 

They're still in diapause, barely moving around any. They have no eggs either. Maybe the reason they're still in diapause is because their formicarium is so much colder than the others, due to the fact that it is made of plaster and insulate the cold better. It's also holding a lot of moisture, which is why it always condenses every night after the sun goes down. They'll probably be out of diapause by the end of March, though I may start heating them, which will make them come out earlier. Also, I'm worried for them, as a small colony of Linepithema humile has moved into a crack of the plaster of the outworld, out of their reach. It has around 5 or so queens, though they had more, but as they do at the beginning of every season, they have killed a few of their queens, as I've found a few on my desk. The colony is still very small, but they have a lot of brood, and being Linepithema humile, they grow very quickly. The only way for me to get them out is to disassemble the formicarium and aspirate them out. I've done it before to remove the Aphaenogaster lamellidens colony from the outworld and to clean the front panel, and it took probably a bit more effort than it should have, and I don't want to have to disturb the colony more than I have to. I think I may just go ahead and replace the front panel entirely into something that is easier to take on and off, preferably magnetically. I do have to do some formicarium maintenance anyways, and I should probably utilize more of the plaster anyways, as there is a ton of plaster, and most of it is not being used in the slightest. I've gotta fix that, but I need to get the humile out first.

[ponerinecat]

No... they're back...

[Ferox_Formicae]

Camponotus castaneus Colony A

 

More eggs are present, bringing the total to around 10 or so, and given the size of the queen's gaster, more are certainly on the way. I also tried to introduce 5 cleansed Camponotus chromaiodes workers to them, but that didn't work. They ended up killing one and the other 5 never actually entered the nest.

 

Camponotus castaneus Colony B

 

Dang! The springtail population in their nest is absolutely exploding! I left an apple core in the outworld for a few days, just so they could nibble on it, and when I removed it last night, about 3000 springtails fell off. I actually ended up tapping a few off into a Petri dish and shaking them around to kill them so I could give them to my Myrmecina colony, more details on that later.

 

Camponotus castaneus Colony C

Bad news. So I wanted to try and introduce two female alates to them, just because I had collected three at my local forest, and I have far too many specimens of queens of that species, and I didn't feel like killing more. I had left them in the outworld for the workers to investigate. The workers went up to them casually and cautiously, first licking them and then snapping at their wings. I left them alone for the night to see what would happen. As it turns out, the queens aren't as timid as I had first thought! The colony managed to kill one of them, who had one of the workers bitten in half in her mandibles, and the other one was still alive, with a gaster-less worker attached to her wing. The queens managed to kill about 6 ants in total, and also did a number on the dealate, snapping one of her antennae in half and ripping off three of her tarsi. She seems really weak too. I feel like such an idiot now, so remind me never to do that again... On a brighter note, more eggs have been laid, and more pupae are present. With luck, by the end of the month, they will have fully recovered from their die-off.

 

Aphaenogaster lamellidens

 

Another new worker has eclosed! That's the second one of the year! There are currently 4 or 5 pupae, and one of them should be eclosing by the end of the week. There are still quite a few medium to large larvae, and the queen has laid a fresh batch of around 10 eggs. Their future is looking bright for these girls.

 

Aphaenogaster miamiana

 

Finally, finally a larva has pupated! And guess what? It's a queen pupa! That's great! That means that, if I'm lucky, I can breed one of them in order to get a fertile queen. Also, one of my colonies will have alates for once!

 

Brachymyrmex patagonicus

 

The queen has laid a batch of around 5 or so eggs, and has been laying more on the daily.

 

Crematogaster minutissima Colony A

 

Okay, it's official, I have to move them into a formicarium. There's just no other way around it. They are too stubborn. They won't move into the new test tube I gave them, and when I tried to forcefully move them in by chilling them and then dumping them in, they warmed up far too quickly, and most of the brood and workers just ended up getting stuck anyways. I'm probably just going to move them into one of my lab-style formicaria, although I could move them into something a bit different. I'll see what I can so, but whatever it is, it has to be done fast.

 

Myrmecina americana

 

I gave them a crushed cricket leg and some pre-killed springtails and they seemed to very much enjoy both. I've also noticed that the brood is very mobile compared to the brood of other ant species I've kept, which is pretty funny, considering the workers are so non-mobile.

 

Temnothorax pergandei

 

My first time seeing this species, and I managed to collect an entire colony! It's a fairly small colony, with a single queen, around 30 or so workers, and a small amount of brood. I collected them in a sandhills habitat in a fallen oak log. They're honestly a bit underwhelming, looking almost identical to a small Pheidole species without high magnification. They look nothing like the Temnothorax I'm used to, though they look a sit similar to T. americanus, which I've seen once in Michigan. Under higher magnification however, you can see what makes them so unique among Temnothorax. For one, their swollen femora, which remind me very much of Xenomyrmex floridanus, and some of tropical, long-legged Temnothorax species, which honestly look absolutely ridiculous. Also, they have a highly pronounced metanotal groove, a feature most other NA Temnothorax lack. So yeah, they're not all too boring to look at. Also, they definitely seem to like it more on the dry side, and I've actually yet to see them on the wet side of the test tube they're nesting in. This makes sense, as I found them in a very dry sandhill forest environment under a dry rotting log, within what I can only assume to be abandoned Reticulitermes flavipes tunnels, as the species was very prominent in the area.

 

Cyphomyrmex rimosus

 

So they've moved out of sight, under one of the tubes connecting the nesting area to the outworlds. As such, there's not really too much to update on, as I have no idea what they're up to, although I do know that they have yeast, as I've seen workers carrying yeast globules out of the nest when it was hydrated, and there are certainly a lot of workers present. I'd say the eggs are beginning to hatch as well. I may adjust their nest a bit so I can actually see them better, just so I can be sure they're not dead or anything, and so I can check up on them more easily.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Crematogaster cf. ashmeadi Queens

 

With the exception of one (who has yet to produce and is likely infertile), all of these queens have produced eggs, and most of the eggs have hatched into larvae. One of them even has a pupa! However, I am beginning to think that all of the queens may be ashmeadi as opposed to lineolata due to their smaller size than the specimens of lineolata gynes I have pointed and due to the pupa appearing to have shorter propodeal spines than what is seen in lineolata, but I didn't really get too good of a look at them as the queen kept cleaning it while I tried to look at it under the scope. I will definitely get a definitive ID on them once the first workers have eclosed. However, there are a few species I can rule out right of the bat, those species being minutissima & missouriensis (for obvious reasons), pinicola, laeviuscula, vermiculata, and pilosa, which leaves me with ashmeadi, cerasi, and lineolata, though I'd say ashmeadi is the most likely answer. I should have an ID for all of them (as they appear to be the same species) by the end of the month once the first workers begin to eclose. Also, I have sold two of them through my Crematogaster BOGO sale. I definitely need to clear out a few of them, as having around 10 or so queens, I'll have my hands full once the colonies grow.

 

Solenopsis invicta Queens

 

Where the heck did all of their eggs go? All of them had very nice batches of eggs, and now only a single queen has eggs? Why? I mean, it's not too big of a deal to me, as I mean come on, they're Solenopsis invicta! They don't exactly have much importance to me. It's just odd though. Also, they tend to be a fan favorite (for whatever reason) on my shop, so I'm probably going to need more than one measly queen.

 

Tapinoma sessile

 

The brood pile is huge and the queen just keeps on laying! At this point, most of their brood is made up of pupae, but now there are around 50 or so new eggs present, so the queen has certainly been busy. Also, I've noticed just how small this variation of Tapinoma is. They're each around 3 mm in length, but lately in the wild, I've been seeing individuals (likely from polygynous colonies) with workers around 3.5-4 mm. It's just something neat to point out. Also, there should soon be a population explosion into the hundreds, which will be interesting, as I still haven't prevented them from escaping, though I suspect the outworld lid is loose, and that's why they keep getting out. They seem perfectly content in their nest right now though, and very few workers ever actually venture out of the nest.

 

Myrmecina americana

 

It seems as if the mite infestation is diminishing, and I've been seeing a lot of the mites walking around in the tube away from the ants. Maybe the ants have finally figured out that they can eat the mites off of each other, as there seem to be much fewer of those mites around. Mite-specialists for the win!

[Ferox_Formicae]

Temnothorax pergandei

 

I don't know if it's their hilariously enlarged femora or their leggy build, but these ants are really starting to grow on me. Also, they're already beginning to produce eggs, probably the first ones of the season!

 

Cyphomyrmex rimosus Colony B

 

I managed to find yet another Cyphomyrmex rimosus in my yard and collect it. However, collection was very difficult, as it was literally inside of a Solenopsis invicta mound, a very large, active one too. Due to me trying my best to not get stung and the Cyphomyrmex becoming increasingly difficult to pick out as more and more RIFA boiled to the surface, I ended up leaving a large portion of the colony behind, including, unfortunately, the queen. However, all hope is not lost, as this is a perfect opportunity to test out Ant_Dude2908's new Attine nest he sent me to try out! I'll move them in once I can get a outworld situated and then keep an eye on their progress from there.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

Hey I'll be looking for a Lasius queen on Saturday. Any suggestions on how I can coax her out besides vibrations or no?

[Ferox_Formicae]

Hey I'll be looking for a Lasius queen on Saturday. Any suggestions on how I can coax her out besides vibrations or no?

I'd say the only real way to coax her out would be with vibrations. However, I would recommend carefully picking apart the wood with fine tools, such as a pocket knife and a few different types of forceps. Just be sure you're very careful, as you don't want to injure her.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

See, if I take a pocket knife someone might call the cops on me lmao, but I'll try to pick it apart with my hands since it's somewhat rotted

[Ferox_Formicae]

Tapinoma sessile

 

It feels like I only just collected this colony with a tiny amount of brood, and now they're already getting their first workers of the season! At the moment, they have around 5 new callows, and with how many pupae are darkening and beginning to actually move, I believe the population of the colony will close to double within the next month or so. The nest will certainly need an expansion soon as the population passes 100 and into 200 workers.

 

Aphaenogaster miamiana

 

So they apparently not only have female alate pupae, but worker pupae as well! So the population will be expanding before it inevitably diminishes, unless I can somehow get them a queen.

 

Cyphomyrmex rimosus

 

They've finally moved out from under the tubing, so now, after I move the debris out of the way, I'll be able see them a whole lot better to check up on their progress. I'm starting to wonder if I should move them into Ant_Dude2908's Attine formicarium, as it is smaller, and I need to move something into it, as colony B has ended up dying because they were too stubborn to move to the wet cotton balls I gave them in their temporary holding container. Let me know what you guys think I should do.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Camponotus chromaiodes Queens

 

I've managed to collect two Camponotus chromaiodes queens (there were 3, but the 3rd one died) during flights, which were a lot earlier this year. Last year they started in early April, and this year during the Ides of March! Also, Friday the 13th was absolutely great for me, as not only did I collect all of these Camponotus alates, but tons of other great stuff mentioned later on in the post. More information about the queens though, the first one was collected at a forest southeast of my neighborhood. She had flown the previous night, and was under a rock near a large colony of Solenopsis invicta. She's actually already laid 3 eggs! The other queen I caught that night. She was digging into a large oak stump in my yard, as was the other queen who I assume gassed herself to death. I collected a total of 5 males during the flights too. I doubt the flights are over, and they should start up again once it warms up a bit. I've got a lot more time to go black-lighting, given the fact that my school has been canceled until at least April. Thanks COVID-19 (not really because all of these days will need to be made up...)!

 

Pheidole crassicornis

 

I managed to collect a massive Pheidole crassicornis colony from under a rock. The colony has a single queen, around 300 workers, and a large amount of small brood. I've moved them into Ant_Dude2908's Attine formicarium (Pheidole are basal Attines), but they don't seem to like it very much, mostly due to the fact that it holds humidity so damn well! Pheidole apparently don't like high humidity as much as I had thought, and certainly not the levels acceptable for a fungus-farming Attine like Trachymyrmex or Mycetomoellerius. I'll moved them into something drier very soon, at least for the time being, and move in something a bit more humidity-tolerant to the Attine formicarium.

 

Aphaenogaster cf. carolinensis

 

I've managed to collect a founding colony of what I assume to be Aphaenogaster carolinensis from within a hickory nut. The colony has a single queen, around 15 or so workers, and a large amount of brood, including a nice pile of freshly laid eggs the queen laid the day after collection, lots of large larvae, and two recently pupated pupa. They seem to be doing pretty good at the moment, and I'll get a definitive ID on them as soon as I get a worker pinned.

 

Solenopsis cf. molesta

 

I've been wanting a colony of one of the smaller Solenopsis species for a while now, and I've finally found a colony with the queen visible! When I was collecting the colony, I was worried I didn't get her, as by the time I had changed out my aspirator container, I no longer saw her. I did manage to collect her though, which was good. They are a lot more skittish than I would've thought though for such a cryptic species, and feeding them is going to be far more difficult than I had anticipated. The colony has a single dealate, around 350 workers and a whole lot of brood.

 

Aphaenogaster lamellidens

 

Yet another new worker has eclosed! Most of the eggs have hatched, and many of the larvae have pupated at this point, and one should be eclosing tomorrow. The rest won't be eclosing for a few weeks. The colony is certainly growing pretty quickly, and by this summer, I may even have to add on another nest attachment if growth continues like this.

 

Myrmecina americana

 

4 workers have died, back-to-back. I'm starting to worry about whether or not these mites they have are actually harmless. They do seem to cluster around the ant's joints, which worries me a bit. I will certainly be keeping a close eye on them over these next few weeks.

 

Temnothorax pergandei

 

More eggs! The queen has certainly been busy laying lately, and the egg-count is now at around 10. I do not expect this colony to be very large, as apparently the colonies tend to max out at around 20-100 workers total, which I did not really expect before I had collected this colony. Who knows though, maybe colonies do better in captivity.

 

Brachymyrmex patagonicus

 

They've got more eggs too! I'm not giving up on this colony just yet. The last remaining worker appears to be stable, and the queen is already busy producing the next generation. They should be recovering from this die-off in no time!

 

Pseudomyrmex ejectus

 

I've managed to collect 2 colonies of Pseudomyrmex ejectus from the same tree I found the leptosus "colony" in. One of them has a dealate and around 15 workers and the other has no dealate, around 25 workers, and 2 alate males, one of which tried to fly away and very nearly did and the other is like dead. Both colonies have a whole lot of brood, all of it larvae. I suspect both colonies are part of the same, as they were on the same tree limb. I will have to test this though and make sure that workers of the same colony can get along without killing each other.

[ANTdrew]

Dang! That’s really early for C. chromaiodes. I figure I better be ready the first day we hit 80 here.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

Imagine getting snow yesterday...this post was made  by the Chicago gang

[AntsDakota]

Here you can swat molesta queens like flies. They’re everywhere.

[TennesseeAnts]

Here you can swat molesta queens like flies. They’re everywhere.

Same. I once caught 100 queen in a night, and divided them into 4 tubes of 25, as I didn't have enough tubes for them and the Colobopsis queens I caught that night. Only one group got workers though.

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, March 16 2020 - 10:28 AM.

[Ferox_Formicae]

 

Here you can swat molesta queens like flies. They’re everywhere.

Same. I once caught 100 queen in a night, and divided them into 4 tubes of 25, as I didn't have enough tubes for them and the Colobopsis queens I caught that night. Only one group got workers though.

 

I've never witnessed a thief ant flight, of any of the 6 (potentially 8) species we have here.

[AntsDakota]

Here you can swat molesta queens like flies. They’re everywhere.

Same. I once caught 100 queen in a night, and divided them into 4 tubes of 25, as I didn't have enough tubes for them and the Colobopsis queens I caught that night. Only one group got workers though.

I just stuck all 100 in a tube together....... they seemed to enjoy each other’s company. Unfortunately, the tube rolled, and their pupae were scattered across the ceiling, and they never got workers.