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Cheeto's Pseudomyrmex pallidus (Discontinued)

pseudomyrmex pallidus pseudomyrmex

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#1 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted December 24 2019 - 8:09 AM

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As anyone should do, I had first prepared the beginnings of a setup for a colony of Pseudomyrmex pallidus that I would be capturing within a few days. The setup was finished on November 19 (not complete in this pic)
 
Pseudomyrmex pallidus setup

 

Next, I had to get the colony. I know of a massive colony of these gals with at least several dozen queens and several thousand workers. My goal was to get a few satellite nests for myself, so on November 24 I grabbed roughly a dozen small sticks with ants inside. I was hoping to find 2-5 queens.

After a few minutes, in the 2nd stick, the first queen arrived.

 

Pseudomyrmex pallidus queen
 

These gals take really good care of their queens, grooming them like crazy.
 
Pseudomyrmex pallidus queen grooming


After tearing apart several more sticks with no luck, the very last had one more dealate queen.
 
Pseudomyrmex pallidus queen


aaand, the whole colony. Roughly a few hundred workers, 2 dealate queens, 2 alate queens, and around 15 male alates. 90% of the brood is larvae, and the rest is eggs. Strangely, they have no pupae.
 
Pseudomyrmex pallidus colony
 

 

The colony eventually started to move into the nest on November 28. The actual nest is literally some plastic straws taped to the side of the container. It sounds absurd, but it works. These gals really like small, long spaces to nest in, and these straws provide exactly that. The humidity is provided via the substrate in the container, which actually works.

 

pseudo nesting area
 

2 of the 5 tubes were placed into the small container.
 
Pseudomyrmex pallidus larvae
 

The remaining 3 tubes were placed into the large container. The heat cable enticed the colony to move right into the nest where I wanted them to be.
 
Pseudomyrmex pallidus captive nest
Pseudomyrmex pallidus captive nest (2)
Pseudomyrmex pallidus brood

 

 

Both dealate queens were safe, and contrary to how they behave in the wild, the two nested together in the same chamber. Strangely, however, both alate queens just... disappeared. No idea whatever happened to them.

 

Pseudomyrmex pallidus brood
Pseudomyrmex pallidus queen
 

 

By November 30, the colony was fully settled in. Enjoying a diet of honey and mealworms, the queens began to lay.

 

IPseudomyrmex pallidus queen

 

 

Nothing too interesting happened with these gals for a little bit. By December 10th one of the queens became considerably physogastric, meaning eggs were being laid like crazy by her. I can confirm that both queens were productive, however, as I had personally seen each lay an egg.

 

Pseudomyrmex pallidus queen
Pseudomyrmex pallidus queen physogastric
Pseudomyrmex pallidus queen is thicc
 
 
By this point the colony had all compressed into 3 chambers, filling each with plenty of brood. No idea why.
 
Pseudomyrmex pallidus colony
Pseudomyrmex pallidus brood
 
 
By December 12, the colony had pupae. This particular one is a male pupa. I hope they get some queen pupae so that I may get some more queens for this colony
 
Pseudomyrmex pallidus male alate pupa
 

 

On December 15 and 16 I decided to make a couple videos of this colony. As you can see in the video I reduced the length of the vinyl tube connecting the two chambers as the workers weren't using it. Now that it has been shortened and the containers placed side by side, the workers move frequently between the two containers.

In this video you can see one of the queens has become even more physogastric than before, which is really cool to see.

 

 

Some pics of the physogastric queen

 

Pseudomyrmex pallidus queen very physogastric
Pseudomyrmex pallidus queen physogastric thicc

 

Sometime between then and the 20th, the two queens moved into the smaller container. Both queens moved into the one chamber, and the whole colony still only takes up 3 chambers total. The queen's chamber in the satellite container has been loaded up with brood from the other chambers and is absolutely stuffed to the brim.
During that time, on December 19th, the colony got its first new workers. At least 3 in one day. By now many of the eggs have hatched into larvae, and even more larvae have pupated. The colony is in full swing, and I can see them doing very well in the future. I will update whenever possible on their improvement.

 

 

By today, December 24, at least a dozen new workers have eclosed and 2 male alates have eclosed. The callows mature very quickly, their exoskeletons hardening in only 2 to 3 days.
 


Edited by CheetoLord02, March 21 2021 - 2:12 PM.

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#2 Offline Broncos - Posted December 24 2019 - 10:11 AM

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Those are some weird but cool looking ants!


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Currently Keeping:

Pogonomyrmex Californicus Bicolor & Concolor

Pogonomyrmex Subnitidius

Camponotus Sansabeanus

Youtube:https://www.youtube....-ants-tutorials


#3 Offline ponerinecat - Posted December 24 2019 - 10:54 AM

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Dang, I broke open about 7 nests but never found a queen. you're lucky.


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#4 Offline Antennal_Scrobe - Posted December 24 2019 - 11:10 AM

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Nice ants! This species actually mates in the nest, so the two alates might have dealated themselves to become queens. Either that or the colony ate them overnight. What's that stripy thing in the last video?


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Currently keeping:

 

Tetramorium immigrans, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Myrmica punctiventris, Formica subsericea

Formica pallidefulva, Aphaeogaster cf. rudis

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Camponotus nearcticus

Crematogaster cerasi

Temnothorax ambiguus

Prenolepis imparis


#5 Offline ponerinecat - Posted December 24 2019 - 5:04 PM

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Nice ants! This species actually mates in the nest, so the two alates might have dealated themselves to become queens. Either that or the colony ate them overnight. What's that stripy thing in the last video?

that's a pupae.


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#6 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted December 25 2019 - 7:03 PM

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Nice ants! This species actually mates in the nest, so the two alates might have dealated themselves to become queens. Either that or the colony ate them overnight. What's that stripy thing in the last video?

that's a pupae.

Yep! It's a male alate pupa. Since then around 3-4 males have enclosed and many more are on the way. Like I said I hope I get some queens for them to mate with.


Edited by CheetoLord02, December 28 2019 - 9:30 PM.

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#7 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted December 25 2019 - 7:04 PM

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Nice ants! This species actually mates in the nest, so the two alates might have dealated themselves to become queens. Either that or the colony ate them overnight. What's that stripy thing in the last video?


Nah, if the queen alates mated then I'd have 4 fertile queens in the nest, but I only have 2. I'd bet the colony probably ate them or they just died. Probably.


Edited by CheetoLord02, December 28 2019 - 9:30 PM.

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#8 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted December 25 2019 - 7:09 PM

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Those are some weird but cool looking ants!

They're some of my favorites! Really potent stings though. When catching them I got stung 3x and it's definitely not fun. Way worse than Solenopsis, which are the only other ants I've been stung by.
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#9 Offline ponerinecat - Posted December 26 2019 - 2:20 PM

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pseudo stings suck. my finger hurt overnight.



#10 Offline Antennal_Scrobe - Posted December 27 2019 - 8:03 PM

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Speaking of Pseudomyrmex stings, I was looking through the comments of a Myrmecos post about them and it seems that many people have severe reactions to the sting of P. gracilis, and live in fear of encountering the ants and being attacked. I guess they truly are the Myrmecia of the Neotropics.


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Currently keeping:

 

Tetramorium immigrans, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Myrmica punctiventris, Formica subsericea

Formica pallidefulva, Aphaeogaster cf. rudis

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Camponotus nearcticus

Crematogaster cerasi

Temnothorax ambiguus

Prenolepis imparis


#11 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted December 28 2019 - 2:24 PM

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Speaking of Pseudomyrmex stings, I was looking through the comments of a Myrmecos post about them and it seems that many people have severe reactions to the sting of P. gracilis, and live in fear of encountering the ants and being attacked. I guess they truly are the Myrmecia of the Neotropics.

I'm not sure they're as bad as myrmecia lol, but they definitely aren't fun. Though, I wouldn't doubt that P. gracilis are much worse than pallidus since they're nearly 2x the size.
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#12 Offline ponerinecat - Posted December 28 2019 - 4:08 PM

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Speaking of Pseudomyrmex stings, I was looking through the comments of a Myrmecos post about them and it seems that many people have severe reactions to the sting of P. gracilis, and live in fear of encountering the ants and being attacked. I guess they truly are the Myrmecia of the Neotropics.

I'm not sure they're as bad as myrmecia lol, but they definitely aren't fun. Though, I wouldn't doubt that P. gracilis are much worse than pallidus since they're nearly 2x the size.

 

The thing is, P. gracilis are rated lower on the pain scale than most other P. spp. Kinda weird.


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#13 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted December 28 2019 - 9:44 PM

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Pseudomyrmex pallidus queen alate pupa
It appears the Pseudo have a queen pupa! (The one with the worker in front of the gaster). I'm like 99% sure it's a queen, so I guess we'll find out for sure in a few weeks when it ecloses. I'm really excited since these gals supposedly breed in the nest, and since there are going to be well over a dozen males in the nest by the time she ecloses she'll have plenty of opportunity to mate. Here's hoping she's not the only one in there. (12-28-19)

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#14 Offline ponerinecat - Posted December 29 2019 - 11:35 AM

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that's a queen pupae. I'm suspicious of your luck.


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#15 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted December 30 2019 - 10:58 PM

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that's a queen pupae. I'm suspicious of your luck.

Yeah, even I'm surprised with how well these gals have been doing. Knowing my luck though one of these days something is gonna go horribly wrong with them. But for now at least they're doing real well

#16 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted December 31 2019 - 8:44 PM

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Silly update for the new year, today a queen was peeking out the side of the nest and fell out. Straight to the floor. A few workers rushed down to help her get back up. She was totally fine, just thought it was pretty funny lol.

#17 Offline AntsDakota - Posted January 1 2020 - 4:44 PM

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I'm suspicious of your luck.

Think he grows four leafed clover in his yard, or something?


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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. (including ants) And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version


#18 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted January 5 2020 - 2:59 PM

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So, I have good news and bad news. Let's start with the good:
One queen alate has eclosed! I hope she mates soon. She eclosed on the 2nd.

Pseudomyrmex pallidus queen alate
 
Gooder news! They have 3 more queen alate pupae! I'm shocked!

3 Pseudomyrmex pallidus queen alate pupae
 

Circled all 3 queen pupae in case you couldn't tell which is which.
 

Pallidus queen pupae circled

And, some unfortunate bad news. I have no idea why, but the colony is cannibalizing a some of their brood. I've noticed at least 3 larvae being eaten by the colony. They're still eating well, crickets and mealworms, so I have no idea why brood is being eaten. Hopefully they stop soon.


Edited by CheetoLord02, January 5 2020 - 2:59 PM.

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#19 Offline TheMicroPlanet - Posted January 5 2020 - 3:07 PM

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Are they actually killing the larvae or are they just ripping slightly at them Dracula ant-style?



#20 Offline ponerinecat - Posted January 5 2020 - 3:27 PM

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Are they actually killing the larvae or are they just ripping slightly at them Dracula ant-style?

 

Killing. Pseudos don't hemolymph bleed. Larvae killing seems to be pretty common, my pseudo apache always had a few dry orange larvae in their nest being eaten. I suspect its stress.


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