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Polyacanthus' Temnothorax

temnothorax

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#1 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted July 15 2021 - 7:20 PM

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Splitting this off from my original combined journal located here: https://www.formicul...hus-ant-journal. I feel like I have too many species now to make any sense of it.

This queen landed on my knee while I layed on my bed reading the forum on July 4. Must've hitched a ride in the house on the dog! Identified in the ID forum as Temnothorax sp. I've never seen one of these before and barely knew about Temnothorax. But I think I know where it came from, I have seen a colony from time to time of the tiniest orange ants I've ever seen in a sidewalk crack near my back patio.

IMG_20210704_015705480~2_resize_16.jpg

She appeared to have an egg on the 7th, and checking on her tonight it looks like she has 4 eggs. Hoping she is fertile!

IMG_20210715_224007299~2_resize_97.jpg

Edited by Polyacanthus, July 15 2021 - 7:29 PM.

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#2 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 16 2021 - 2:49 AM

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Good luck. I think you could have a lot of fun making setups for these ants, plus they wouldn’t take up much space.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#3 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted July 20 2021 - 7:29 PM

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She is up to 8 eggs. Is she fertile? Hoping to see larvae soon, it's been almost two weeks since the first egg.

IMG_20210720_223734651~2_resize_38.jpg

#4 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted July 25 2021 - 12:30 PM

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I could be mistaken but I believe she has larvae now. I can't tell with the naked eye so the best view I have is with my macro lens that clips on my phone.

IMG_20210724_111059964~2_resize_78.jpg
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#5 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted July 25 2021 - 4:54 PM

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Definitely larvae. Congrats!

#6 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 26 2021 - 5:04 AM

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Nice!
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#7 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted July 26 2021 - 8:26 AM

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Thanks, it looked like it but I couldn't quite tell if it was an optical illusion or not. I got another pic last night that is more definitive:

IMG_20210725_220712919~2_resize_70.jpg

Also, I was washing the car last night just before dusk, and when I reached down to dump my bucket out I saw a Temnothorax queen right there next to the bucket trying to pull her wings off! So I went looking around and found three more queens. I will put them together in another colony.
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#8 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted August 6 2021 - 9:03 PM

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If I'm not mistaken it looks like we have a pupa already.

IMG_20210806_234208331~2_resize_65.jpg
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#9 Offline smares - Posted August 6 2021 - 9:55 PM

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Amazing you spotted this tiny queen!
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#10 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted August 7 2021 - 6:52 AM

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She actually landed on my knee! I felt something I assumed was a mosquito so I almost smacked it, but I looked down first and realized it was a tiny queen! First time I had ever seen one.

Edited by Polyacanthus, August 7 2021 - 6:52 AM.


#11 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted August 21 2021 - 8:56 PM

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She has a worker and 5 larvae. I gave them a dot of sugar water yesterday and a fruit fly today.

IMG_20210821_224559771~2_resize_83.jpg
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#12 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted April 14 2022 - 7:29 PM

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Sadly, she didn't make it. Last fall she had a couple workers who died before winter, and she didn't make it through diapause. There are mites in there, I assume from the fruit fly. I'll have to be more careful. At least I know they're around here and I'll hunt for more this year.
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#13 Offline ANTS_KL - Posted April 14 2022 - 9:28 PM

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Sadly, she didn't make it. Last fall she had a couple workers who died before winter, and she didn't make it through diapause. There are mites in there, I assume from the fruit fly. I'll have to be more careful. At least I know they're around here and I'll hunt for more this year.

Good luck finding them again. They were so cute...


Young ant keeper with a decent amount of knowledge on local ant species.

YouTube: https://m.youtube.co...uKsahGliSH7EqOQ (It's pretty dead. Might upload again soon, don't expect my voice to sound the same though.)

Currently kept ant species, favorites have a star in front of their names (NOT in alphabetical order, also may be outdated sometimes): Camponotus irritans inferior, Ooceraea biroi, Pheidole parva, Nylanderia sp., Paraparatrechina tapinomoides, Platythyrea sp., Anochetus sp., Colobopsis sp. (cylindrica group), Crematogaster ferrarii, Polyrhachis (Myrma) cf. pruinosa, Polyrhachis (Cyrtomyrma) laevissima, Tapinoma sp. (formerly Zatapinoma)

Death count: Probably over a hundred individual queens and colonies by now. I cannot recall whatsoever.

#14 Offline ANTdrew - Posted April 15 2022 - 2:13 AM

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Put up a blacklight trap, and you’ll find hundreds.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.





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