11 replies to this topic

[neenach2002]

1. Location (on a map) of collection: Leesburg, Florida
2. Date of collection: 09/30/2020
3. Habitat of collection: Not sure, found her crawling around in the kitchen.
4. Length (from head to gaster): 4.7-4.8mm
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: Brown with white stripes on her gaster
6. Distinguishing characteristics: Her gaster is fat
7. Distinguishing behavior: Just sits there doing nothing
8. Nest description: N/A

9. Nuptial flight time and date: N/A

 

Pretty sure she's a Brachymyrmex Patagonicus

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[Manitobant]

Brachymyrmex patagonicus. They are fully claustral, polygynous and easy to keep.

[neenach2002]

Wait.... they are polygynous? Does that mean I can introduce her to my other queen which already has a sizable brood?

[Manitobant]

Yes you can. However polygyny sometimes doesnt work if one of the queens already has developed brood, so take her out if there is any signs of aggression.

[neenach2002]

Yes you can. However polygyny sometimes doesnt work if one of the queens already has developed brood, so take her out if there is any signs of aggression.

What's the easiest way to introduce them? And, what signs of aggression should I look out for?

[Mdrogun]

In my experience with Brachymyrmex patagonicus, they are pleometrotic not polygynous.

 

With that being said, I have definitely observed populations of them that are suspiciously large and polydomous, which suggests polygyny. I don't think I've ever seen any hard evidence that they are polygynous. For now I would treat them as if they are pleometrotic.

[neenach2002]

In my experience with Brachymyrmex patagonicus, they are pleometrotic not polygynous.

 

With that being said, I have definitely observed populations of them that are suspiciously large and polydomous, which suggests polygyny. I don't think I've ever seen any hard evidence that they are polygynous. For now I would treat them as if they are pleometrotic.

Can you explain what this means? I'm fairly new to the hobby. I assume you mean I should not introduce them, but I'm not sure what you mean when you say I should treat them as if they are pleometrotic.

[TennesseeAnts]

 

In my experience with Brachymyrmex patagonicus, they are pleometrotic not polygynous.

 

With that being said, I have definitely observed populations of them that are suspiciously large and polydomous, which suggests polygyny. I don't think I've ever seen any hard evidence that they are polygynous. For now I would treat them as if they are pleometrotic.

Can you explain what this means? I'm fairly new to the hobby. I assume you mean I should not introduce them, but I'm not sure what you mean when you say I should treat them as if they are pleometrotic.

 

Meaning: "Don't put the queens together, as they may rip each other to shreds after their first nanitics arrive".

[TechAnt]

B. patagonicus are certainly polygonus here in the west, somebody made a 100 queen colony of them here in SoCal. But there may be a reigonal difference.

[Aaron567]

This could either be B. patagonicus or B. obscurior. It mostly depends on what time of the day you found her. B. patagonicus queens land right after dark while B. obscurior flights happen entirely during daylight. It's suspected that B. obscurior is less accepting of additional queens than patagonicus. B. patagonicus is apparently pretty heavily pleometrotic in the wild, and it seems that the workers are the ones that do the queen culling, so even if you put multiple together you can pretty safely assume you'll end up with one unharmed & healthy queen after some period of time. However it's not easy to tell which species your queen is and that all might be untrue for B. obscurior. Neither species is known to be polygynous either way.

Edited by Aaron567, September 30 2020 - 6:57 PM.

[TestSubjectOne]

I would not combine them. In my limited experience with California B. patagonicus, queens are only accepting of others during the beginning of founding and queens I introduced after the initial founding group were killed by the other queens.

[Hoophy97]

My B.patagonicus colony has 4 queens and around 200 to 300 workers at the moment, on either their 3rd or 4th batch-generation. I have no way to tell if it's just one queen doing all the laying, or multiple, but the workers haven't harmed any queens yet, so we'll see if this persists.

 

It's a good idea to put B.patagonicus queens together (around 1 to 7 per founding colony) when you catch them as they are heavily r-selected and thus each queen has a very poor survival rate.

 

Remember to heat them and DO NOT hibernate!!! #1 mistake people make when keeping B.patagonicus.