83 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

I agree with arman, this is definitely treatae. Flight also matches, exceeding hot day in july. They take off when the clouds pass over according to a few sources. I believe this is the first A. treatae colony I have seen that was founded from a single queen.

I agree with this as well. The ants definitely have the big lobes at the base of the scape mentioned here:
https://mississippie...ter.treatae.htm

I like the colony even more now.

[ANTdrew]

Here’s a photo of the lobes:

Attached Images

• 

[ColAnt735]

Those lobes make her look a lot like Aphaenogaster treatae to me. 

[ANTdrew]

Update 3/10/2022

 

After some super sleuths on here noted the large lobes on the bases of these ants' antennae, it came to light that this colony is actually Aphaenogaster treatae. I'd never even heard of this species before, so it's been a nice discovery for me. There are basically no records of people keeping them on this forum, nor is there much info on the rest of the interweb (no surprise there). This journal will aim to change that!

 

The colony is thriving! I watched Jord laying an egg the other day, and the other brood continue to develop. Two of the larvae have pupated, which is really quick since I woke them up just three weeks ago. I continue feeding these every other day with hemp hearts, dubia roach bits, and a few earwigs I found in my yard. I'm heating them with a heat cable wrapped around their mini-hearth and taped to the front glass.

 

 

 

Edited by ANTdrew, March 10 2022 - 7:18 AM.

[AntsDakota]

Amazing colony! We just have rudis, tennesseensis, and sometimes picea. I love the coloring of treatae.

[TennesseeAnts]

I honestly don't know why I never saw the lobes. Great looking queen!

[ANTS_KL]

I've been looking at Aphaenogaster for a while and have actively searching for the only species in Malaysia, Aphaenogaster feae. Unfortunately, they seem quite rare. I love the genus because of their long legs and interesting queens.

[AntsCali098]

Update 3/10/2022

 

After some super sleuths on here noted the large lobes on the bases of these ants' antennae, it came to light that this colony is actually Aphaenogaster treatae. I'd never even heard of this species before, so it's been a nice discovery for me. There are basically no records of people keeping them on this forum, nor is there much info on the rest of the interweb (no surprise there). This journal will aim to change that!

 

The colony is thriving! I watched Jord laying an egg the other day, and the other brood continue to develop. Two of the larvae have pupated, which is really quick since I woke them up just three weeks ago. I continue feeding these every other day with hemp hearts, dubia roach bits, and a few earwigs I found in my yard. I'm heating them with a heat cable wrapped around their mini-hearth and taped to the front glass.

 

Wow! I've never seen Aphaenogaster so large! They almost look similar to Novomessor Cockerelli.

[OiledOlives]

You should see old world Aphaenogaster. 

[antsriondel]

I've been looking at Aphaenogaster for a while and have actively searching for the only species in Malaysia, Aphaenogaster feae. Unfortunately, they seem quite rare. I love the genus because of their long legs and interesting queens.

yeah, I agree

[ANTdrew]

Update 3-30-22

All is well with this colony. They are gaining new workers, but being such large ants, it takes awhile for them to pupate. I'd say they are around 24 workers now with two pupae darkening at the moment. Their egg pile still has over 20 eggs, I'd say. The book lice population in the mini-hearth is booming, too. I really hope to get these up to 100 workers this season. They're very shy creatures.

 

[Lamarr]

They are such calm ants! I am glad to see another fellow treatae keeper on here! Any updates on the colony?

[ANTdrew]

Thank you! I will put one together, but I misplaced my macro lens. The colony is doing very well, but growing slowly.

[ANTdrew]

Update 5-4-2022

 

May the fourth be with you! This A. treatae colony continues to do well, but they take their time for everything. There has been a steady stream of new workers eclosing, but several of the first gen nanitics have also started to kick the bucket, so they are staying just under 30 ants at the moment. I made a dumb mistake one night that set them back. When I went to refill their nest mate, one of the workers bolted out. It just happened to be the one that was holding the egg clump! I was able to gather her up again, along with most of the eggs, but some of them were lost unfortunately. Queen Jord has replaced them now, though, so I'm not too concerned.

 

[Devi]

I've been eagerly awaiting an update, glad to hear they are doing well!  I love the coloration on treatae, it beautifully contrasts the queen.  I'm surprised they are growing slowly, from what I knew, aphaenogaster grew pretty quickly!  I've been thinking about getting a colony of rudis for a bit, this journal just encourages that, haha.  Best of luck in the future with this colony, I look forward to seeing they grow!

[CheetoLord02]

Nice journal so far. Aphaenogaster treatae are definitely top 3 eastern US Aphaenogaster species, and workers can get enormous, upwards of 7mm. Consider yourself lucky to have her.

[ANTdrew]

Update 5-11-2022

 

Short update to say that these ants continue to do well. They always have a clump of 20 or more eggs, but they seem to take forever to hatch. Only one or two larvae hatch at a time. I do have a heat cable for them, but they like to keep on the opposite side of it. They are quite messy and have made a a big trash pile in  a corner of their mini-hearth. I look forward to moving them into something cleaner whenever they get a bit bigger in numbers. These are big fans of pre-killed termites.

 

[ANTdrew]

Update 5-27-2022

 

 Not really good news to report here, but this colony is suddenly not doing well. At least six workers have turned up dead in the outworld in the past two days. At this point, deaths are outpacing eclosures, so I'm officially concerned for them. I have not fed them anything out of the ordinary beyond feeder crickets and dubias. Some green mold did start growing on the floor of the mini-hearth's outworld last week, so that might be to blame. I will try to get them out of there this weekend. I hope I can turn things around.

[OiledOlives]

Hoping that it's no more than the nanitic generation dying off. I'm sure you can get them going again though! 

[ANTdrew]

Update 6-23-2022

 

Things are looking up for this colony. Their mini-hearth got really nasty and even had mold growing in the outworld, so I decided to move this colony into a vacant Inception Chamber I had. Besides looking a lot nicer than the old mini-hearth, the small nest is also inspiring them to dump their trash outside, which is a big improvement! Five or six of their eggs finally hatched, so I'm hoping they can start recovering numbers. The colony still loves hemp hearts and any small insects they can drag back into their nest.