19 replies to this topic

[NicholasP]

It was Thursday the 27th of May 2021 at 8:09 PM when I spotted something massive being attacked by what seemed to be Solenopsis! Immediately I rushed to the scene as the night before I had found a Solenopsis Amblychilla queen getting killed by Solenopsis Xyloni. As I arrived at the scene I noticed that the massive object seemed to be a queen. I thought to myself "Why is this queen getting attacked like crazy?!" so me being the person who loves ants decided to save this queen and as I cleaned of the queen of the Solenopsis Xyloni workers I saw that she was Solenopsis Xyloni too! I was in utter shock as I didn't expect her to be out this late but I still took her in. But before I put her into a tube I noticed that she seemed to be dying. So I just put her into her tube and ignored her because just 11 minutes later I found a Camponotus cf. Festinatus queen. Well, as I went to take a break I pulled out the Xyloni queen and she was no longer moving. I thought to myself "Oh no! My first Xyloni queen I've ever kept is almost dead?!?". So I carefully pulled out the cotton ball and put her on the ground where she sat still and was no longer moving except for small movements of her legs. I decided she couldn't be saved any more so I kept looking for ant queens for around 1 more hour and when I came back to her I saw that her legs and antennae were moving a bit! Instantly I was in a hard choice of whether to bring her or not since I had only brought 4 test tubes with me as I was not expecting a nuptial flight of any sort besides Brachymyrmex Patgonicus. In the end I decided that I will take her with me and try to rehabilitate her so I can get her to workers so I can use the workers as hosts for if I found a Solenopsis Amblychilla queen during the monsoon season. Right now I have her in the upright position and she's recovered a lot after a few hours. She can now stand on her own but doesn't move around at all right now. Tomorrow if she can move around a bit I'll put her tube in the horizontal position so she can drink some sugar water. Lets cross our fingers for this beautiful Solenopsis Xyloni black color variant!

Attached Images

• 

[ANTS_KL]

Followed! Hope she survives!!

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

[NicholasP]

Followed! Hope she survives!!

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

Thanks she actually has not died!

[NicholasP]

So. It seems like my prayers for her worked and she survived the night! I will let you guys know how she's doing at the end of the day!

Attached Images

• 

Edited by NicholasP, May 28 2021 - 10:29 AM.

[NicholasP]

Also. You guys may see a Solenopsis Amblychilla journal this week since I'm starting find Amblychilla queens that are flying.

[yibsi]

Very awesome species, one of the ones on my wish list, nice find!

[ANTS_KL]

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

[NicholasP]

I am very proud to say that the queen is starting to move around a lot more! Her tube is now in the horizontal position as she can move around pretty well even though she moves pretty slowly! In a little bit she'll get some well earned sugar water and tomorrow in the morning I will give her some brood from my crematogaster colony! Let's cross our fingers that she survives tonight too!

[ANTdrew]

Why would you give her Crematogaster brood?

[ANTS_KL]

Maybe she can eat it

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

[ANTdrew]

I figured the same, but aren’t there easier and more humane sources of protein? Fully claustral queens don’t even need protein yet.

[ANTS_KL]

I figured the same, but aren’t there easier and more humane sources of protein? Fully claustral queens don’t even need protein yet.

True... Maybe to let her adopt them. I have had a tetramorium sp. queen accept Pheidole parva brood and raised them as her own.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

I figured the same, but aren’t there easier and more humane sources of protein? Fully claustral queens don’t even need protein yet.

Or it could be to possibly refill her stores in case she ran out.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

[NicholasP]

So... she's sadly died... So I will answer all your questions.

1. This was asked by ANTdrew Q: "Why would you give her Crematogaster brood?"

 

A: The Crematogaster brood was meant to brood boost the queen and if she didn't want a brood boost she could eat them for extra food after she suffered her injuries.

 

I'm very sorry it had to end like this. She looked fine 5 hours before her death. Then she started getting very sluggish again and that was when one of the Crematogaster pupae eclosed and was hardening. Fear not though as monsoon season is only 2 months away! And I bet I'll have some queens fly in June too. I will update this journal if I find another Xyloni queen! Until next time! Stay safe and love your ants!

[NicholasP]

Hark! A thumping sound grows louder! And there's a lot of rapid thumping! Could it really be Queen Scarlet at it again!? No, it is something much worse... The horror seeing it crest over the cricket. But what is it exactly? They're black... They have a very aggressive behavior... Could it be? Could it be the legendary Monomorium minimum!? No... Those died a while ago... There's only one answer... And I must answer it quickly as I see them coming towards me now! They're Solenopsis xyloni! One of the most aggressive and fastest growing desert species there is! Now if you'll excuse me... I got to run for it! 

 

And with that being said, welcome back to the one and only Arizonan Solenopsis xyloni journal! From the one... The only... NicholasP! A couple of weeks ago in an area near Phoenix, AZ I found a Solenopsis xyloni colony. I don't even know if I should call it a colony though because when I found it the queen looked extremely starved to the point, I almost thought it might be parasitic Solenopsis even though to my knowledge there is no parasitic Solenopsis in AZ. The "colony" contained 1 queen and a really sad worker count. The worker count was 7 workers with no brood. Now, I have my suspicions as to why the queen was so skinny with so little workers. My first suspicion is that since I found her in a desert wash there probably wasn't much food that came by there, so they were starving. Luckily at the time I had several test tubes, so I decided to take them in.

 

I had a suspicion that they wouldn't do well since they had so few workers and they'd probably die before they got new workers. But boy was I wrong. You know what they say, "when there's a will, there's a way." and I had a will to get them to workers as fast as I could before the 7 workers died. So my first instinct was to get them into a test tube and feed them. Now I wanted to start slowly feeding them and by slowly feeding them I mean give them something to eat that wouldn't stress them out like a cricket would. So I gave them some sunflower seeds and they took it gladly. Next step, HEAT HEAT HEAT! Solenopsis do amazingly well when they have heat so after placing heat I saw over the next 2 days the queen getting fatter. on the 3rd day that I had them the queen finally laid a batch of eggs. After a trip for a week I came back to see larvae. Some were BIG larvae. So I fed them a cricket finally and they went crazy over it. After 2 days the whole cricket's insides were empty and they left the husk of the once live and healthy cricket a week later I had pupae but the worker count dropped from 7 to 3. At this point I was getting worried the queen might not make it. But it seems like the queen had a will, and she found a way. After 2 days some of the pupae were fully mature adults ready to serve their royal highness.

 

We had done it. From a starving colony with little chance to survive we had not only saved them but gave them a chance to live life and flourish. Fast forward to today the queen has hit the 20 worker mark and they show no signs of slowing down. The workers are already very aggressive when I open their test tube to feed them. Time will only tell when they get their first majors! Until then, live life, and go anting!

 

Tomorrow I will take some pictures of them and post them! Also let me know what to name them!

[ANTdrew]

I think this must be an awesome species to keep. Good luck.

[NicholasP]

Sorry guys for no update last night! Formiculture was having problems opening for me last night. So, as promised (a day late) I have some pictures of the S. xyloni! The pictures aren't great because the tube was really dirty so I had to get an angle from the least dirty part but in these pictures, you can see the queen, brood, and some of the 20 workers.

Attached Images

• 
• 
• 

Edited by NicholasP, March 14 2022 - 8:35 AM.

[NicholasP]

I think this must be an awesome species to keep. Good luck.

Thank you! They are an absolutely awesome species to keep since they can also survive on only seeds so I wouldn't have to worry about protein and not to mention the massive colonies they get!

[antsriondel]

nice colony! also if you want any names I have plenty 

[AntsCali098]

What happened to this colony

[NicholasP]

Well, as I said before I've moved away from Arizona and didn't have the permits to bring them with me so I left them in Arizona until I can get the permits for them but they're doing fairly well under the care of the person I asked to take care of them for me for now.