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[RushmoreAnts]

Claustral Formica

Formica fusca group

Formica pallidefulva group
Update 1

August 8, 2024

 

Over the weekend of the fourth of July I vacationed in Nebraska City, NE which has decent forest cover due to its proximity to the Missouri River. The first day on the 4th I caught a Formica pallidefulva group queen which I will dub as cf. incerta, bright orange. On the 6th I caught another queen, similar but darker in coloration, and I will call it cf. pallidefulva.. The week after I came back I found a smaller Formica fusca group queen in a parking lot here in Sioux Falls. Then again last Sunday another larger fusca group queen landed on my car's windshield.

 

Formica cf. pallidefulva

Of the Nebraska City queens this one is doing the best. She just got nanitics, with three callows and three more pupae on the way. After she got workers she immediately laid 10-12 eggs. The queen is noticeably smaller and of darker complexion than the other pallidefulva group queen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Formica cf. incerta

I absolutely love the colors of this queen. While the other pallidefulva group queen is beautiful in her own way, I find this one's orange and red color scheme with stripes absolutely stunning. She definitely isn't doing as well worker-wise, but at least she's fertile. She just got her first worker, with two more on the way. She has one larva and one egg. Hopefully she lays more soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Formica fusca group Queen 1

I accidentally dented this queen's abdomen during collection, though it doesn't seem to be affecting her. She laid eggs, and had two large larvae. However, when I checked on her one week she ate them. She now has 3-4 eggs again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Formica fusca group Queen 2

This queen landed on my windshield, as previously mentioned. She's a larger fusca group, probably subsericea, argentea, or podzolica. She laid 7 eggs within this first week and a half of having her. Her abdomen is quite plump and healthy-looking, so I have high hopes for her as well as the cf. pallidefulva. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by AntsDakota, August 12 2024 - 12:35 PM.

[RushmoreAnts]

Update 2

August 20, 2024

 

Formica cf. pallidefulva

This colony is doing phenomenal! All six nanitics have eclosed, and the queen kept herself busy these past couple weeks, producing roughly 20 brood which developed rapidly, having about 6-7 pupae as of today. There's also ~4 larvae and ~10 eggs. I can't tell exactly since they move the brood around so fast. I wouldn't be surprised if they got 30 workers before hibernation, which the best performance I've ever gotten out of a Formica colony. After being fed this queen actually looks a lot more similar to the cf incerta queen, just slightly darker.

 

This phrase, from AntWiki, is what I based the pallidefulva group colonies' identifications off of: "The geographic range of F. pallidefulva completely overlaps that of F. incerta, and most places where they are found together in the field, F. incerta appears lighter in color and less shiny than F. pallidefulva, due to some faint tessellation on the mesosoma and somewhat longer, denser pubescence on the gastral dorsum of F. incerta." So basically, where the two coexist, pallidefulva is usually the darker species, as this colony is. incerta has more hair on the gaster, which the lighter queen certainly has. She's hairier all over. I haven't ruled out biophilica for the second queen, though I'll call her cf. incerta for now. I believe biophilica have lighter-colored workers, however, and this colony still has darker workers.

 

 

Apologies for the poor quality, I take my pictures outside in natural light, and today it was cloudy and raining.

 

 

 

 

 

Ants_Dakota and I made an outworld out of a Hobby Lobby display case and cool rock I bought in the Black Hills. It's a South Dakotan tradition to buy rocks at the rock shops when pilgrimaging to the Black Hills.

 

Accidentally splattered some wet grout on the plant, but I don't really care. I'm not a skilled craftsman or physically coordinated.

 

Formica cf. incerta

All three nanitics have eclosed, with the latter two coming just a couple days ago. The queen now has around 10 eggs and a couple larvae. I fed both colonies some Tetramorium immigrans brood since one colony killed all of its founding queens during pleometrosis. This colony ate most of it, yet they were still carrying around a Tetra pupa which they will probably eat later. Both colonies seemed to care for the Tetra brood before they ate it, oddly enough. They were likely trying to preserve it to keep it fresh.

 

 

 

 

 

They drained their feeder, I'll have to refill it.

 

I recycled now queenless Tetra Colony E's nest entrance and Test Tube cover. That's why it says E. I wrote Formica cf. incerta on a piece of tape and stuck it on the cover, Tetramorium immigrans Colony E is still visible underneath. I'm not about wasting resources.

 

Formica fusca group sp.

This queen ate her eggs again, and has not laid since. She is most likely genetically weak, affected by her injuries, or both. I'll still keep her around, however I don't have high hopes for her.

 

Formica cf. subsericea

This colony so far is keeping pace with the cf. pallidefulva. She has 2 pupae, 1 large larva, 5 small larvae (but knowing Formica larvae they won't be small for long, or larvae for that matter), and 1 egg, which would bring her nanitic count to 9, compared to the pallidefulva's 6. It will be one of my crowing colonies along with the pallidefulva.

 

 

 

Edited by RushmoreAnts, August 20 2024 - 3:53 PM.