343 replies to this topic

[ponerinecat]

Obtained some new globs as my old ones died, as well as some finally decent pictures of them.

 

 

Also, here's a pretty big springtail i found. It still has a ways to grow.

[AntsDakota]

Also, here's a pretty big springtail i found. It still has a ways to grow.

They're so cute.........

[ponerinecat]

Armadillidium vulgare

 

 

Symphylans were moved to a larger less wet environment. I'm mainly culturing these as easy ant food and as food for geophilid centipedes, which are in turn food for Stigmatomma sp.

 

 

Recently got a hold of these Phidippus sp. jumping spiders. The striped one is a female, recently molted, and the solid red one is her partner, a male.

The vulgare really seem to love the ball of wet yeats I gave them.

[AntsDakota]

I believe I used to keep Armadillidium...........

[ponerinecat]

Just identified those small white isopods from a while ago as venezillio microphthalmus.

[Canadant]

Nice creepy crawlies! Were those scorpions? And a tarantula? Wicked.

[ponerinecat]

Nice creepy crawlies! Were those scorpions? And a tarantula? Wicked.

False tarantula. Let her go a while ago.

[ponerinecat]

Obtained some truly tiny springtails, even for springtail standards. Those white specks are milled bits of yeast.

 

I had to crop these photos at the highest magnification.

[ponerinecat]

Moved the Ligium to a new setup, and doubled their population.

 

 

Also rehomed the P. laevis.

[ponerinecat]

Calicina sp.

 

I'm super excited for these guys. They are an incredibly understudied genus, with diet being unknown and habitat extremely specific, some species only known from one location. Meanwhile I've collected five and seen seven, as well as appearing to have successfully bred them in two days of captivity. Hopefully they lay soon, and I can figure out what they eat.

 

And on top of all that, I managed to find a Camponotus hyatti colony next to them, isolated entirely within a tiny piece of wood, with a possible two queens, or at least two dealates. They already have 3 alates.

 

[ponerinecat]

I may be the first to witness breeding among Calicina, and if I can get them going in captivity I would be able to find out a lot of unknowns about biology for seemingly the entire species.

[AntsDakota]

What even are they? Or are they simply Calicina?

[ponerinecat]

They're a small genus of armored harvestman that live in the soil. We know pretty much nothing about them at the moment.

[ponerinecat]

Some pictures of said mating, reviewed and confirmed to be courtship by experts.

 

 

I was only able to observe them for a very short period of time, after which they parted.

 

[ANTdrew]

Awesome!

[ANTdrew]

Which springtails would do best in a big THA formicarium and where should I look for them?

[ponerinecat]

Which springtails would do best in a big THA formicarium and where should I look for them?

Entomobrya sp, look for them under wood and bark as well as by the border of sidewalks and lawns, under flat pieces of rock, and leaf litter. Examples would be my Entomobrya unostrigata and atrocincta as well as my "zebra" springtails, all Entomobrya. For smaller ants, they will likely get hunted, and then you may want to use even smaller species such as Pseudosinella sp or Cyphoderus sp, small white subterranean species often found with ants. You can find them under wood and rocks.

[ponerinecat]

   

[TheMicroPlanet]

Pseudomyrmex?

[ponerinecat]

Yes, apache queen.