11 replies to this topic

[CatsnAnts]

Hello yet again!

 

Temnothorax pergandei seems to be one of the more unusual Temnothorax species, as it almost resembles a miniature Aphaenogaster queen. Unlike most other Temnothorax around here, this species appears to fly in the evening during daylight hours, which makes them significantly harder to find since I can't attract them to my black-light. I will likely never come across another one of these queens, so I'll do my best to raise this one colony.

 

Temnothorax pergandei (1 queen):

This queen has a surprising number of eggs, although she will likely eat a few later on as went in Arron's journal of this species. I may try and feed her some honey when she gets pupae because she is already beginning to look like a semi-claustral queen, although I don't even know if she has any larvae yet. Here's a bunch of photos (sorry for the poor quality on some, cotton was on the side of the test tube  ):

 

Edited by CatsnAnts, August 30 2020 - 3:57 PM.

[Antkid12]

Nice!

[ponerinecat]

Adorable.

[AntsDakota]

Adorable.

I second this.

[TechAnt]

Adorable.

I second this.

I third this. It’s hard to not look at it’s face.

[CatsnAnts]

Temnothorax pergandei (1 queen):

This queens brood is taking forever to develop, but I don't want to risk putting her on heat for fear of condensation. I will most definitely have to feed her at least once before workers arrive:

Edited by CatsnAnts, July 26 2020 - 5:14 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

I would heat her using the incubator method.

[CatsnAnts]

Update 7-30-2020

 

 

Temnothorax pergandei (1 queen):

 

She has larvae! And a few large ones at that, which seems very quick since her eggs only just hatched very recently. She looked extremely skinny this morning, way more so than the last time I took photos of her, so I decided to give her a small piece of a mealworm and a small piece of cotton soaked in honey. She greatly appreciated it! She's spent a lot of the morning chewing on the mealworm, so I hope that she can use that as a protein source instead of her excess amount of eggs because I want her to have a large first batch.

[CatsnAnts]

Mini-additional-update in saying that the queen is now extremely full of honey and mealworm with yellow streaks showing between the plates on her abdomen. I'm still hoping that she decides not to use her eggs as a protein source for the other larvae, because if she doesn't then she will have over ten nanitics on her first batch, which would be awesome considering she is a Temnothorax queen.

[CatsnAnts]

Update 8-1-2020

 

 

Temnothorax pergandei (1 queen):

 

This queen is still doing good, although I think she might have eaten a few of her eggs, whoops.

 

 

 

Photography tutorial https://www.formicul...ds/#entry157595.

[CatsnAnts]

Update 8-30-2020

 

 

Temnothorax pergandei (1 queen):

 

PUPAE!!!! FINALLY!!! She only has one pupae, one small larvae, and lots of eggs, but progress is progress! I've been making sure to give her a regular supply of protein and sugar, too.

 

[Antkid12]

Can't wait for workers!