36 replies to this topic

[Roachant]

Hi all,
This spring I found several queens of an unknown tetramorium species and kept them in test tubes and small petri dishes. I tried a small experiment, I put two queens together instead of keeping them alone. I have noticed the queens that were together did remarkably better and started a colony much quicker than the other queens. Here is a video link to the two queen colony which had just recently gotten its first nanitics.
I have to say though, those first nanitics are some of the smallest ants i have ever seen!



I have just put in their first insect, a small sowbug and they immediatley killed it and brought it in their petri dish nest. I plan to move them to a nest as soon as they have enough workers to fill their petri home.
Thank you all for identifying this species for me!

Don

Edited by Roachant, July 25 2015 - 7:36 PM.

[Chall]

Where did you find them what state

[Chall]

Honestly I have no idea

[AntsAreUs]

Wait... could that be Tetramorium?

 

Eh, probably not though.

Edited by AntsAreUs, July 23 2015 - 7:36 PM.

[LC3]

Wait... could that be Tetramorium?

 

Eh, probably not though.

It does look surprisingly close to Tetramorium. Picked up a few specimens I have and the queens look nearly identical o.O  

 

I'm not sure if Tetramorium found their colonies with other queens but if they do make it Raochant (aka not having an "election") You may have found a rare strain of polygynous Tetramorium.  

[Jonathan21700]

Do you have any photos?

Looks like Tetramorium.

Edited by Jonathan21700, July 24 2015 - 1:06 PM.

[William. T]

 

Wait... could that be Tetramorium?

 

Eh, probably not though.

It does look surprisingly close to Tetramorium. Picked up a few specimens I have and the queens look nearly identical o.O  

 

I'm not sure if Tetramorium found their colonies with other queens but if they do make it Raochant (aka not having an "election") You may have found a rare strain of polygynous Tetramorium.

 

Tetramorium sometimes start colonies with other queens. I did an experiment with Tetramorium SpE, and put two queens in a test tube. When the notices emerged, in some of the tubes the weaker queens was killed, but in other tubes the queens get along fine. Does look like Tetramorium though, and they look like Tetramorium SpE, which flew in droves a few weeks back.

[Roachant]

Hmmm.. Well, they have been showing up regularly in my pool starting on June 16. They have been having flights for about a month and have since stopped as of July 10th or so. I find them during the day.
Here are a few pictures,

So far the two queens are getting along very well. They even feed each other and every day I see more and more workers. If there will be a power struggle I'm guessing it will be soon.

[AntTeen804]

Yeah those are Tetramorium.

[Roachant]

Whoops! Identifying ants is so complicated. I feel stupid for really missing the boat on these ones though.
At least I have heard they are an easy to keep species.

[LC3]

Yah might want to edit the title, change it Tetramorium sp. e.

[Roachant]

Changed it! Thanks guys!

[dermy]

Good luck with them they are a great beginner species! Colonies grow fairly large too!

 

Edited by dermy, July 26 2015 - 1:45 AM.

[Roachant]

Update on this colony!
I plan to have some new video soon, I,just have to edit it together.
So so far my experiment to have two tetramorium queens together is still working. They seem to be very close, almost inseparable and I am now up to at least 35-40 workers!
They also eat a lot. I have been giving them live insects once every three days and they devouring them as soon as they encounter them. And these are not small insects either, I gave them large Isopods, crickets, huge flies they hollow them out within a few hours. Judging from the piles of larvae, I'm going to have a lot more workers from this colony very soon.
I noticed something odd but, maybe it's just me. For some reason there are two piles of larvae on two sides of their nest. Could this be because they are from two different queens?
Regardless, I see no violence (haven't seen a dead worker yet) so if there's going to be a civil war in there, I'm guessing it won't be anytime soon.
I find they are a rewarding species to keep as they are quite active all over the nest and outworld.

[Huch]

Cool. I hope this works out so we can know that this species can have multiple queens.

[Myrmicinae]

Very interesting.  In my attempts at keeping multiple queens together, all but one are always killed immediately before or after eclosion of first workers.  Definitely keep us updated!

[Crystals]

The seperation of the brood is common, it is usually sorted by size/stage of brood.  Pupae separate from large larvae, separate from small larvae, etc.

 

Sometimes queens can co-exist for quite some time, but with species that tend to be monogynous any big stresser might tilt the balance of power.  Some of Drew's colonies had 50+ workers before they removed the extra queens.

[William. T]

The seperation of the brood is common, it is usually sorted by size/stage of brood.  Pupae separate from large larvae, separate from small larvae, etc.

 

Sometimes queens can co-exist for quite some time, but with species that tend to be monogynous any big stresser might tilt the balance of power.  Some of Drew's colonies had 50+ workers before they removed the extra queens.

One of my queens somehow wanted to attack the termite soldiers I fed her colony. She is part of a three queen Tetramorium colony I have, 25 workers. She was tussling with an aggressive soldier almost her size. Long story short, she must have got injured, because she was in the colony debris pile the next morning.

Edited by William. T, August 18 2015 - 1:45 PM.

[Roachant]

The seperation of the brood is common, it is usually sorted by size/stage of brood.  Pupae separate from large larvae, separate from small larvae, etc.
 
Sometimes queens can co-exist for quite some time, but with species that tend to be monogynous any big stresser might tilt the balance of power.  Some of Drew's colonies had 50+ workers before they removed the extra queens.

One of my queens somehow wanted to attack the termite soldiers I fed her colony. She is part of a three queen Tetramorium colony I have, 25 workers. She was tussling with an aggressive soldier almost her size. Long story short, she must have got injured, because she was in the colony debris pile the next morning.

Interesting, it almost seems that the cooperation between queens is fragile at best.

[William. T]

 

 

The seperation of the brood is common, it is usually sorted by size/stage of brood.  Pupae separate from large larvae, separate from small larvae, etc.
 
Sometimes queens can co-exist for quite some time, but with species that tend to be monogynous any big stresser might tilt the balance of power.  Some of Drew's colonies had 50+ workers before they removed the extra queens.

One of my queens somehow wanted to attack the termite soldiers I fed her colony. She is part of a three queen Tetramorium colony I have, 25 workers. She was tussling with an aggressive soldier almost her size. Long story short, she must have got injured, because she was in the colony debris pile the next morning.

Interesting, it almost seems that the cooperation between queens is fragile at best.

 

Yeah, they really must want an excuse to get rid of her. I bet if I touched her, she would also go in the debris pile.