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Aaron's Tetramorium bicarinatum Journal (Updated 12/4/20)

tetramorium journal

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#1 Offline Aaron567 - Posted August 24 2017 - 8:27 PM

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Tetramorium bicarinatum

 

One June 13, 2017, I caught a queen at a light at night that I eventually identified as Tetramorium bicarinatum. This is a tramp species of Tetramorium that has been successful across the world and is present in Southern United States. The queens are semi-claustral and colonies are polygynous. I have also heard they are capable of very fast growth and can get reproductive alates at only a few hundred workers -- and then breed in the nest, creating more queens.

 

After catching the first queen, I caught 3 more over the next few weeks. I put all four queens together. In a few days, they laid eggs. One queen died of natural causes after a few days.

 

I noticed that they kept laying eggs and then eating them. I was feeding them very often so I had no idea why they were doing this. I decided to split them up to see if they would do better by themselves, but I ended up keeping 2 together and leaving one queen single.

 

Now, I am making this journal on the single queen because she is starting to do very well now after laying her own eggs by herself.

 

(All four queens together with a few eggs, July)

 

These queens are each 4.5mm in length.

 

wo5R2Go.jpg

cgF2eW1.jpg

6jO81ot.jpg

 

 

 

August 21st and 22nd (The single queen with her 3 larvae)

 

YMtzPeo.jpg

mdlCWhv.jpg

 

 

 

August 24, 2017

 

Today she laid several eggs and her largest larva will pupate any day now. The largest larva is more than half the queen's size. I have not even seen Tetramorium bicarinatum workers/colonies in my area so I am excited for this queen to get a colony. It was definitely surprising when I caught them.

 

mBLsFQr.jpg

tzkRcqE.jpg


Edited by Aaron567, December 4 2020 - 3:18 PM.

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#2 Offline VoidElecent - Posted August 25 2017 - 6:56 AM

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Beautiful! Do you know if the workers will exhibit the same saturated bicoloration that the queens do?



#3 Offline AntsMaryland - Posted August 25 2017 - 9:38 AM

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This species does


Aphaenogaster cf. rudis 

Tetramorium immigrans 

Tapinoma sessile

Formica subsericea

Pheidole sp.

Camponotus nearcticus


#4 Offline Aaron567 - Posted August 25 2017 - 2:34 PM

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Beautiful! Do you know if the workers will exhibit the same saturated bicoloration that the queens do?

 

The workers should resemble the queen very much. The queens are just a little larger.



#5 Offline Aaron567 - Posted August 28 2017 - 5:51 PM

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August 28, 2017

 

The first pupa has appeared. This worker is going to be a lot larger than i expected. The other 2 larvae will pupate in the next few days and she has some eggs still.

She shed that last wing too ;)

 

div3LYV.jpg

3ET7isq.jpg


Edited by Aaron567, May 12 2018 - 10:48 AM.

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#6 Offline Aaron567 - Posted September 7 2017 - 2:22 PM

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September 7, 2017

 

The first worker has just eclosed! It is near the size of the queen which is pretty interesting. She has 2 large larvae now, and one of them is getting ready to pupate. There are several eggs and I also saw 1 or 2 small larvae in there.

 

In this first picture she is carrying the worker.

 

JTQ8ETS.jpg

bZd9ncp.jpg

X59v5jG.jpg

0P1He8G.jpg

XFLTPRd.jpg

jpZqi4a.jpg


Edited by Aaron567, May 12 2018 - 10:51 AM.

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#7 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted September 8 2017 - 6:09 AM

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Beautiful! You are very good at photography.


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I accidentally froze all my ants 


#8 Offline Spamdy - Posted September 8 2017 - 7:00 AM

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Very cool, I think I actually just caught a queen of this species. Good Luck!


All my colonies are dead. 

 

 Except:

  

  Pogonomyrmex barbatus

  Pheidole obscurithorax

  Pheidole morens


#9 Offline Samuelp.1 - Posted September 22 2017 - 12:38 PM

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I have one :D

Species i'm Keeping:

Camponotus Floridanus, Camponotus Tortuganus, Brachymyrmex Obscurior, Unidentified species, Tetramorium Bicarinatum, Cyphomyrmex Rimosus,

Dorymyrmex Bureni, Hypoponera Sp, Pheidole navigans, Pheidole megacephala, Solenopsis Invicta, Cardiocondyla Venustula, Cardiocondyla Sp,

Cardiocondyla minutior.

Unidentified species of Termites.


#10 Offline Aaron567 - Posted September 23 2017 - 12:40 PM

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This queen has two workers now. I haven't taken new pictures of them in 5 days, but I have plenty from a few days ago. The first two pictures are before she had her second worker.

 

They are not picky at all, easy to feed, and the brood develops very fast. The queen has been laying some new eggs. 

 

September 14, 2017

dqPkmP6.jpg

ZMxLVZY.jpg

 

 

September 18, 2017

mMoKLLq.jpg

dxR68DE.jpg

tNVmUEw.jpg

qNMjP70.jpg

 

 

A few days ago, I also caught two new Tetramorium bicarinatum queens. I really love the color on these two particular queens, very red. I will raise them together. The winged queen in this picture did shed her wings by the next day.

WQpPZlq.jpg


Edited by Aaron567, May 12 2018 - 10:55 AM.


#11 Offline Aaron567 - Posted October 11 2017 - 4:13 PM

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October 11, 2017

 

This colony has grown so much since the last update! Not workers, but brood. There will be many more workers soon, as you can see.

I am really enjoying this species because they are growing fast and are very easy to feed. They haven't refused anything.

 

dm58ktq.jpg

P84gZsd.jpg

a4hZqV1.jpg

G0bktyG.jpg

TlzeoES.jpg


Edited by Aaron567, May 12 2018 - 11:03 AM.

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#12 Offline Mettcollsuss - Posted October 12 2017 - 3:45 AM

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Awesome! I wish I lived where these girls are.



#13 Offline antaioli - Posted October 12 2017 - 4:25 AM

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What set up are you using for founding the queens? What have you been feeding them?

I've caught some semi-claustral Rhytidoponera queens recently and I'm unsure how to house them.



#14 Offline Aaron567 - Posted October 12 2017 - 2:22 PM

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What set up are you using for founding the queens? What have you been feeding them?

I've caught some semi-claustral Rhytidoponera queens recently and I'm unsure how to house them.

 

Since these Tetramorium queens are small and are unlikely to be highly disturbed when I check on them, I just have these in a normal test tube setup and I feed them mealworm or waxworm pieces every 3 days or so. For larger queens or queens that are easily disturbed, you can just set a covered test tube inside an outworld and just put the food in the outworld. That is the setup I have with my Pseudomyrmex queens.



#15 Offline Aaron567 - Posted November 3 2017 - 5:02 PM

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November 3, 2017

 

The colony is up to at least 15 workers now. Doing great! They don't have a ton of brood because I have not been feeding them as much as I used to, but not all the brood is in these pictures. The test tube is basically out of water so I am about to move them to a new one.  :)

 

WOAWpRz.jpg

XNOyliX.jpg

XMeBuJf.jpg

WglvO1b.jpg


Edited by Aaron567, May 12 2018 - 11:05 AM.

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#16 Offline Aaron567 - Posted November 12 2017 - 1:00 PM

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November 12, 2017

 

I just successfully moved the colony into a new test tube. The old one ran out of water and was getting very moldy. Right now there are 16 workers with a few more on the way in the next few days.

 

ViuU9lO.jpg

Sph7cDV.jpg

7ac9Xec.jpg


Edited by Aaron567, May 12 2018 - 11:06 AM.

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#17 Offline VoidElecent - Posted November 12 2017 - 4:49 PM

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These seem a lot like Vollenhovia emeryi, so cool!



#18 Offline MegaMyrmex - Posted November 12 2017 - 9:24 PM

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These seem a lot like Vollenhovia emeryi, so cool!

I was literally thinking the exact same thing!!!

Proverbs 6:6-8 New International Version (NIV)

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
    consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
    no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
    and gathers its food at harvest.

 


#19 Offline Aaron567 - Posted January 7 2018 - 3:11 PM

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January 7, 2018

 

This colony has been growing nicely. They are still in the same test tube that I moved them into in the previous update, except now they have over 30 workers! The test tube is very dirty now, as they've piled shreds of cotton everywhere because they like to make tunnels and shape the cotton how they want. I should move them into their first formicarium pretty soon where I will be able to get better pictures. They also have a small outworld now.

 

This is what their test tube looks like.

lgzKmjD.jpg

 

 

 

Here's the colony -- can you spot the queen?  :)

 

nUCMVaZ.jpg

3SzoFfX.jpg

GUWvwfs.jpg


Edited by Aaron567, May 12 2018 - 11:08 AM.

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#20 Offline Diesel - Posted January 7 2018 - 3:18 PM

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your photography is excellent


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Ant Species kept

 

Temnothorax Longispinosus.-Journal(discontinued)-(formerly)

Camponotus Noveboracensis (formerly)

Camponotus Nearticus-formerly

Tetramorium sp.-formerly

Camponotus Pennsylvanicus Queen & brood.-formerly

Tapinoma Sessile-Journal (3 queen colony)-formerly

​Tapinoma  Sessile #2 (2 queen colony)-formerly

Aphaenogaster Picea-Journal-active

Crematogaster sp.(Cerasi or Lineolata) Queen with 3 workers and brood-formerly

​Crematogaster sp. #2 (Cerasi or Lineolata) Queen with brood-formerly

Formica sp. polygenus-active 300+ workers-active

Formica Subsericea-active 25+ workers-active

Myrmica Rubra 400+ workers 3 queens-active






Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: tetramorium, journal

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