94 replies to this topic

[PaigeX]

one of the two queens i have. she is 2-3mm long and going by the pictures only has two brood.

 

 

One of the few males that was with the queens. died after mating. larger one. some are smaller.

Edited by PaigeX, December 21 2021 - 6:50 PM.

[SYUTEO]

 

 

Maybe it's Solenopsis papuana, it's native to New Guinea and many of the Pacific islands but invasive in Queensland. I found it on Antweb. And I'm at least 80% sure it's S. papuana because some specimens on Antweb are bright yellow/orange and most of the details seem to match.

Likely those. From what I can see, they look solenopsidine. Paige, mind if you try to get a picture of a queen?

 

that's just it. There are no larger ants in this colony and any others that I find out side. Either they all have no queens or the queens look too similar to the workers. I have Queens of similar size that are 3mm long. I'll get a picture of one of the dead ones I collected. Might be the same species. But only one other colony I've found out of the 10+ had larger workers. I do think it was a different species. 

 

Maybe it's Solenopsis papuana, it's native to New Guinea and many of the Pacific islands but invasive in Queensland. I found it on Antweb. And I'm at least 80% sure it's S. papuana because some specimens on Antweb are bright yellow/orange and most of the details seem to match.

When I googled the name. This picture came up.
Its looks identical to what I have but its only Native to USA and no accounts are of it here in QLD.
https://www.discover...arch=Solenopsis

Solenopsis molesta, worker

 

So it might be Solenopsis papuana as you say. 

 

EDIT: On a site i found the same one for sale but its only classed as Solenopsis sp. 
https://www.antkeepi...s-sp-queen-only

 

The ant you found at Antkeepingdepot might actually be S. papuana but the seller doesn't know, be S. pachycera but I couldn't find information to confirm it or it's an undescribed species of Solenopsis. I'll do more research and see what I can find.

 

Edit: The two queens of the post above are not Solenopsis, they both resemble Crematogastrini ants, possibly Tetramorium.

 

Edit 2 : I found three more Solenopsis species that could be the one you have, S. clarki, S. froggatti and S. fusciventris. Do note that all of them still needs verification in Queensland.

Edited by SYUTEO, December 21 2021 - 8:57 PM.

[PaigeX]

Very interesting! I did not think to look for some that need verification, or knew how to go about it.

I tried to get better pictures.

 

[ANTS_KL]

one of the two queens i have. she is 2-3mm long and going by the pictures only has two brood.

20211222_1228_001_Moment.jpg
20211222_1228_002_Moment.jpg

One of the few males that was with the queens. died after mating. larger one. some are smaller.
20211222_1231_002_Moment.jpg

The queens are of a Tetramorium species and those need feeding in the founding stage. Ur workers are likely a Solenopsis species and have no queen.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

[PaigeX]

 

one of the two queens i have. she is 2-3mm long and going by the pictures only has two brood.

20211222_1228_001_Moment.jpg
20211222_1228_002_Moment.jpg

One of the few males that was with the queens. died after mating. larger one. some are smaller.
20211222_1231_002_Moment.jpg

The queens are of a Tetramorium species and those need feeding in the founding stage. Ur workers are likely a Solenopsis species and have no queen.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

 

thanks for letting me know!

 

EDIT: gave them each a drop of honey, they loved it. I gave it to them once before but they didn't want it then.

Edited by PaigeX, December 22 2021 - 1:58 AM.

[PaigeX]

First thing first, I did up my little ant area. Its in the spare bed room that's for storage and two Birds in their cages. (hand raised, cuddled and talked to daily) There is room just for all to be in it and walking space.

I added shelving to the wall I had brought years ago but never used. Then set up my ants on it and what I use below. Now I have a spare table to work on and more space for inflation haha.

I've got lights and will add them soon for the ants.

 

Its like the only organised spot of the room xD

 

Next part is the honey experiment I did. As you can buy many kinds here I wanted to see what my ants liked the most. I found they like the Bush honey more than anything. Next is the Yellow box and 3rd is normal honey. They aint fussed on manuka honey. I wanted to see if the native ants liked the native honey better and I was right.

 

Ants love it. The newest colony I have swarmed it. Made for a cute picture. Blurry ants are running around haha

Edited by PaigeX, December 23 2021 - 12:39 PM.

[PaigeX]

One of my Polyrhachis Ammon queens got her first worker today! Its so cute and staying over the brood.

 

[antsriondel]

One of my Polyrhachis Ammon queens got her first worker today! Its so cute and staying over the brood.

 

Polyrhachis Ammon queen first worker 28-12-21-.jpg

awesome!!!!!!!!!

[PaigeX]

Big update!

 

First:

Polyrhachis Ammon queen got another new worker. But they also decided to pile all the seeds on the wet cotton 

 

Next is a Polyrhachis Australis colony I collected from in between insulation foil. I had to remove them because I sprayed bug spray above them unknowingly while removing another colony of Crematogaster sp. going into the outdoors Bird Aviary. 

I blu tacked some leaves to the side of a container and they moved right in.

 

Thirdly, One of my Polyrhachis vermiculosa got bigger and had many workers sitting outside the test tubes on the black paper. So I had to add another tube and a bigger outworld. They moved right in. (far left)
They also have lots of males coming out so that is taking up more space.

 

After I added the new outworld they hung out in the tubing and are still there 12hours later.

 

A few weeks ago I ordered a Polyrhachis Phryne Queen from queenofants and the queen came with a worker and pupa. She has laid an egg since.

 

Lastly to my very much happiness and excitement, I found a Polyrhachis Daemeli Queen today!
I was outside cleaning up the back patio and saw a silver spiny ant. I wanted to know what kind it was to ID it so caught it in a vile. I later Saw it was a Queen! I was so happy I did a happy dance. xD 

 

PS: I've caught so many queens lately I've ran out of 15mm and 18mm test tubes. (brought like 10-20 of each) I only have 20mm and 13mm left now and it seems I need to restock.xD

[JCRHJM]

Big update!

 

First:

Polyrhachis Ammon queen got another new worker. But they also decided to pile all the seeds on the wet cotton 

IMG_20220101_204246_1.jpg

 

Next is a Polyrhachis Australis colony I collected from in between insulation foil. I had to remove them because I sprayed bug spray above them unknowingly while removing another colony of Crematogaster sp. going into the outdoors Bird Aviary. 

I blu tacked some leaves to the side of a container and they moved right in.

IMG_20211228_144252.jpg

IMG_20211228_144315.jpg

 

Thirdly, One of my Polyrhachis vermiculosa got bigger and had many workers sitting outside the test tubes on the black paper. So I had to add another tube and a bigger outworld. They moved right in. (far left)
They also have lots of males coming out so that is taking up more space.

IMG_20220101_203707.jpg

 

After I added the new outworld they hung out in the tubing and are still there 12hours later.

IMG_20220101_203647_1.jpg

 

A few weeks ago I ordered a Polyrhachis Phryne Queen from queenofants and the queen came with a worker and pupa. She has laid an egg since.

IMG_20211217_145557.jpg

 

Lastly to my very much happiness and excitement, I found a Polyrhachis Daemeli Queen today!
I was outside cleaning up the back patio and saw a silver spiny ant. I wanted to know what kind it was to ID it so caught it in a vile. I later Saw it was a Queen! I was so happy I did a happy dance. xD 

20220102_1002_004_Moment.jpg

 

PS: I've caught so many queens lately I've ran out of 15mm and 18mm test tubes. (brought like 10-20 of each) I only have 20mm and 13mm left now and it seems I need to restock.xD

pretty cool what you did with the leaves

[PaigeX]

I went by the nest they weaved with the foil insulation and picked leaves with a big out curve to make more room for them.

Cut one into a heart too. I also didn't tack around the whole leave knowing they would use silk to fill the gabs, which they have since the picture.
Still Trying to find out what they like to eat as no websites say what their liked diet is.

Edited by PaigeX, January 2 2022 - 9:27 AM.

[SYUTEO]

Do you have any tips for raising Polyrhachis queens? I never succeded in my 3 years of ant keeping and the farthest I've got to was getting them to lay eggs.

[PaigeX]

Do you have any tips for raising Polyrhachis queens? I never succeded in my 3 years of ant keeping and the farthest I've got to was getting them to lay eggs.

were they only in the test tube? If so add a drop of honey on something at all times. I have some of mine in the test tube and a small mini outworld. They seem to like the added mini outworld better.
 

Edited by PaigeX, January 3 2022 - 11:16 AM.

[PaigeX]

Found a Colobopsis Macrocephala Queen last night. We have a mosquito trap with a fan and she was in the holding bin. She seems fine and I hope she lives to make a nice colony.

[Antkeeper01]

 

Do you have any tips for raising Polyrhachis queens? I never succeded in my 3 years of ant keeping and the farthest I've got to was getting them to lay eggs.

were they only in the test tube? If so add a drop of honey on something at all times. I have some of mine in the test tube and a small mini outworld. They seem to like the added mini outworld better.
If you want I can send you a Polyrhachis Ammon queen that has some eggs/brood if you live in Aus.

 

sadly they live in Malaysia I think

[PaigeX]

Update:

The two Tetramorium sp. queens past away and sprouted fungus. They were going so well. 
I released the Solenopsis Sp. colony that had no queen. No growth and were just sitting there waiting to die.

Released the Camponotus Elegans small colony back where I found them as they rarely came out of the test tube and I'm more interested in Polyrhachis.

Polyrhachis Australis are doing well and seem to be ok now. Not sure If I want to keep them yet or release them to another place away from the bird aviary and spray. 

Found a Myrmecia Gilberti Queen who had just dug her founding chamber. While I was walking inside from my storage container (shipping container) with plastic containers to DIY and modify for the ants I rolled my foot and was unable to walk on it. I can place some weight on it now but its still very swollen. I could not complete the setup for the new queen and had to simply deal with putting her test tube in a tub with sand. No decorations. And yes I gave honey to her after these pictures. 

Wasn't able to get better pictures at this time. Sorry.

 

Also finished sketching up some designs to make Ytong Nests. I went by what I found outside with other colony's and what other people have done. 

Edited by PaigeX, January 8 2022 - 7:09 PM.

[JCRHJM]

Sorry to hear about your foot, if I were you I would throw away the tetramorium setups asap on the off chance that they came down with cordyceps. The nest designs look nice!

[PaigeX]

Sorry to hear about your foot, if I were you I would throw away the tetramorium setups asap on the off chance that they came down with cordyceps. The nest designs look nice!

Yea that was the first thing I did just in case. No reused of what i had them in. straight into the trash. Also my foot has ballooned up and I have to go to the Doc, My Mum thinks I've broken or fractured a bone as she had the same thing happen to her when she was younger. 

[JCRHJM]

 

Sorry to hear about your foot, if I were you I would throw away the tetramorium setups asap on the off chance that they came down with cordyceps. The nest designs look nice!

Yea that was the first thing I did just in case. No reused of what i had them in. straight into the trash. Also my foot has ballooned up and I have to go to the Doc, My Mum thinks I've broken or fractured a bone as she had the same thing happen to her when she was younger. 

 

Wishing you a speedy recovery, at least your nigrocincta should be arriving today

[Leptomyrmx]

Update:

The two Tetramorium sp. queens past away and sprouted fungus. They were going so well. 
I released the Solenopsis Sp. colony that had no queen. No growth and were just sitting there waiting to die.

Released the Camponotus Elegans small colony back where I found them as they rarely came out of the test tube and I'm more interested in Polyrhachis.

Polyrhachis Australis are doing well and seem to be ok now. Not sure If I want to keep them yet or release them to another place away from the bird aviary and spray. 

Found a Myrmecia Piliventris Queen who had just dug her founding chamber. While I was walking inside from my storage container (shipping container) with plastic containers to DIY and modify for the ants I rolled my foot and was unable to walk on it. I can place some weight on it now but its still very swollen. I could not complete the setup for the new queen and had to simply deal with putting her test tube in a tub with sand. No decorations. And yes I gave honey to her after these pictures. 

Wasn't able to get better pictures at this time. Sorry.

IMG_20220105_152646.jpg

IMG_20220105_152659.jpg

 

Also finished sketching up some designs to make Ytong Nests. I went by what I found outside with other colony's and what other people have done. 

IMG_20220103_090212.jpg

Ah, piliventris are a very nice species, not to aggressive with a milder sting than some other Myrmecia species. Nice Ytong nest designs as well.

Hope your foot feels better soon.