13 replies to this topic

[Bracchymyrmex]

My brother and I (VoidElecent) have begun to look for a temnathorax colony. We started by looking in three acorns, but only seemed to find a peculiar looking larva. If you have any experience finding a temnathorax colony let us know. In the mean time we will continue searching.

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/2ixLC

 

The larva is at the bottom left of the picture... No idea what's from.

[VoidElecent]

So far, we've ONLY searched three acorns, so we haven't made too much progress. There happens to be a large oak tree next to our house, which has produced many acorns over the winter. We've searched most of them, very few are squishy like the ones we took in for inspection and none so far have housed any Temnothorax Colonies. We also have access to good-sized, forested areas so we don't have to rely on this single oak tree. 

 

Just a reminder, my brother and I live in a suburb outside of Philadelphia; the weather has fluctuated between the 30's and 40's (F°) for the past couple weeks, and it rains occasionally. Don't know if climate affects the activity of Temnothorax Colonies (they're probably hibernating anyways), but it may be helpful to have that info.

 

If any of you have any experience looking for Temnothorax colonies, advice would be very much appreciated. We're focusing on finding Temnothorax Curvispinosus right now, but if you know of any other Temnothorax species in the North East, let us know; we'll keep an eye out for them as well.

 

Also, here's the direct image that my brother posted above:

 

[superjman]

I'm pretty sure the larva is from an acorn weevil! They find a young acorn before they harden, cut a little hole in, lay an egg, and plug it up with their feces. A while after the acorn falls off the tree the grub forces its fat body out of the hole and digs into the ground till it matures and turns into a full grown acorn weevil!

[Nathant2131]

I actually made a topic asking almost the same questions:

http://www.formicult...?hl=temnothorax

Good luck with this genus! I'm going to try and find some next summer.

[Kevin]

You're gonna be cracking a lot of acorns at this time of the year.

[Canadian anter]

I've only ever seen Temnothorax sp in rotten wood. Too few oak and elm trees

[Mdrogun]

I found a colony once when I picked up an acorn. That was a long time ago and I've never seen a colony again. Good luck.

[Bracchymyrmex]

You happen to remember any special characteristics the acorn had? I.e. if it was soft, darker or partially buried....

[Loops117]

I've found tons of these colonies and actually put a few down. I still have a couple colonies, and queens left with plans to move them into a macro setup. Polygamous i believe as well.

The thing that i found works for me is completely undisturbed land and trees. I opened LOTS of acorns in public areas such as metro parks, and local woods with 0 success. The only times i was able to find them was in areas that are well hidden. Areas that rarely see humans. I found Temnathorax at 2 locations in Michigan, and both rarely see humans and are pretty remote. The acorns they had hosted in were varied between slightly rotton, to still hard. I've found that the newer the acorn, the younger the colony.

 

I'm not sure on how well this will work for everyone else, just going off my findings.

 

 

Edit: Forgot to add that i also caught a flight. Not sure of which species, but they look pretty close to Temnothorax. These girls flew about 20 minutes after the sun set, the day after a light rain.

Edited by Loops117, February 6 2017 - 11:53 AM.

[jsCoder]

Hello! I found the queen temnathorax in the dry forest, she was already without wings (after nuptial fly), she is very small (3 - 4mm).

And i'm know, that temnathorax like is live in the acorn (and walnut). Good look in your search! 

 

Images this queen (it is old img, she already have few larvae, after hibernation)

[Bracchymyrmex]

Thank you! Please update us with pictures of the colony's progression when you get a chance!

[Canadian anter]

I caught at least 70 Temnothorax last year but I never managed to get even larvae. And black lights seem to be very effective

Edited by Canadian anter, February 12 2017 - 7:27 AM.

[ctantkeeper]

I've found tons of these colonies and actually put a few down. I still have a couple colonies, and queens left with plans to move them into a macro setup. Polygamous i believe as well.

The thing that i found works for me is completely undisturbed land and trees. I opened LOTS of acorns in public areas such as metro parks, and local woods with 0 success. The only times i was able to find them was in areas that are well hidden. Areas that rarely see humans. I found Temnathorax at 2 locations in Michigan, and both rarely see humans and are pretty remote. The acorns they had hosted in were varied between slightly rotton, to still hard. I've found that the newer the acorn, the younger the colony.

 

I'm not sure on how well this will work for everyone else, just going off my findings.

 

 

Edit: Forgot to add that i also caught a flight. Not sure of which species, but they look pretty close to Temnothorax. These girls flew about 20 minutes after the sun set, the day after a light rain.

Awesome find!!! I have had similar experience with that. they seem to almost always be found in rotten, discolored acorns as opposed to fresh (yet hollow) ones. as for your queens, they definitely belong to the genus Temnothrax. I believe they are either of the species Temnothorax ambiguus (the species present in your acorn photos) or Temnothorax curvispinosis.

 

P.S. : I think you meant to say "Polygynous" (many-queen) instead of "Polygamous" (many wives/partners) earlier. It's cool though, I used to do that all of the time lol

Edited by ctantkeeper, February 12 2017 - 8:10 AM.

[ctantkeeper]

You can also find them in discarded walnuts as well as other commonly found hollow nuts. I have also had luck with finding them in those (especially Temnothorax ambiguus).