167 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

Well, to find the original queen now is like some crazy, moving Where's Waldo! The only real difference between her and the new alates is that one of her bigger wings has been removed, but she still has all the rest of her wings.

[Antcatcherpro3]

Oh wow, she still has her wings? That is a really hard wheres waldo then!

[ANTS_KL]

Pics of my Nylanderia cf. kraepelini

[ANTdrew]

Nice one!

[ANTS_KL]

Nice one!

thanks. Btw if anyone can try and help ID pls do. I'm quite sure they aren't kraepelini as there are lots of invasive Nylanderia in my country. Problem is only obscurans (idk the spelling) and kraepelini are listed on antwiki.

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[AntBoi3030]

My nylanderia are still at larvae D: unless they have pupae but there is really no way to tell.

[Antcatcherpro3]

I think I'll have to move my Nylanderia into a new formicarium soon. Every day I see more and more workers on the surface. They are also taking in a lot of food. They might be making alates though.

[ANTdrew]

Update 7-9-2021

 

I've had a lot of fun with this colony recently. They have tons of alate males, and at least 30 alate queens in their nest. The alates creep out in the evening and some of them manage to fly out of the opening in the top of their formicarium, but they haven't really staged an actual flight. Several times I've carried their whole setup outside on hot evening when I see their species flying, but nothing really happens. One night a rove beetle drawn in by my blacklight ended up in their outworld and was quickly taken down and consumed.

 

 

I've staged an experiment. I've been aspirating up some queens and taking them outside to release. One night, I watched one get mounted by a male and fertilized. I collected her again and brought her inside. I put her back in the outworld of their setup, and the workers welcomed her back with no aggression. I'm not really sure what happened beyond that , but I did spot a dealate queen in their nest last night. This is interesting because their original queen never removed three of her wings to this day. I'm going to keep monitoring to see where this experiment leads.

[yaboiseth]

This was an interesting read! As I recently caught a Nylanderia vividula queen a few weeks ago and she already has larva. Very excited to experience what you're experiencing

[Kaelwizard]

It would be interesting to see if they practice secondary polygyny.

[NickAnter]

I tried to introduce an alate to my colony. It was torn into pieces.

 

Hopefully you have better luck!

[ANTdrew]

I tried to introduce an alate to my colony. It was torn into pieces.

Hopefully you have better luck!

This queen was met with no aggression, probably because she was their sister. Time will tell if she starts contributing to the brood production.

[ANTS_KL]

My Nylanderia are strictly monogynous and only practice pleometrosis.

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[AntBoi3030]

I caught a nylanderia queen that might be vividula! But she also could be a really fat tapinoma sessile queen lol.

[ANTdrew]

I caught a nylanderia queen that might be vividula! But she also could be a really fat tapinoma sessile queen lol.

Check the thorax. If it’s red, I bet you have vividula. They are extremely common.

[ANTdrew]

Update 8-31-2021

 

This colony continues to thrive. They are such rewarding little ants and very well behaved. They have mucked up the top of the formicarium quite a bit, though. There is a massive pile of new brood by their water tower. Either the old queen really kicked into gear again, or one of the queens I let mate outside and put back in is now contributing to the colony.

 

 

Here is a top view of the whole setup. There is still no mold on the Perfect Cast.

[AntBoi3030]

I have a quick question, I’ve been findin a lot of nylanderia colony’s with alates in the past few weeks. Could this be flavipes or vividula? I’m not sure if flavipes undergoes diapause with their alates. I tried to check the thorax but they have wings and it’s hard to tell when they’re going nuts.

[ANTdrew]

I'm pretty sure they do overwinter their alates. Not sure what species you're seeing specifically, though.

[futurebird]

Update 4-22-2021

 

I don't sense much interest in this colony on here, but I'm really excited about this huge pile of alate brood that's starting to develop. They have several new males as well. I may try some ways to let the alates fly later this spring/summer.

 

 

 

I'm very interested since I just got this genus and I'm trying to figure them out. I've been treating them like my very healthy lasius neoniger colony. They are just so small I can hardly tell if they are eating. 

 

They are very cute, though... and never try to escape because I think they are so tiny they don't feel like they are captured. 

 

I've watched a worker "explore" the 50mm diameter "outworld" like it was on this vast expedition, even stopping to rest. 

[ANTdrew]

Update 9-30-21

 

 My original colony continues to do well. They have tons of new brood, along with all the alates they put out this spring. Every night, their outworld fills up with alates bustling about. By morning, they are back in the nest. I can still find the old queen, Aslaug, from time to time. A new food I've given these ants recently is canned cat food. As you can see from the photo, they love it!

 

 

I need to clean the lid of their Antpartment somehow, so I may try if they are in deep dormancy this winter. They've stuck up a lot of crud on the acrylic.

 

 I'm raising up a new colony to sell. They currently have about 20 workers and a good brood pile. They got set back a bit when a bunch of the first nanitics died off for some reason, but they are recovering nicely.