So, with how common Pheidole moerens is and as far as I know...no one else has kept them. Or very few anyway. And how little information there is...thought I'd post what I've discovered on this species. Mostly from my own observations, but some of it I have found on Google.
Pheidole moerens is a non-native ant to parts of the U.S and elsewhere. The workers are small, but a tad chubby looking (look a bit like Brachymyrmex workers in body structure)...with a yellow-ish clear color. They can be a darker color as well, depending on diet. The colony near my garage has dark brown/black soldiers where as the workers are yellow. My own colony has all yellow workers and soldiers. From my understanding, a diet heavy on insects gives them a darker color and a diet on seeds/honey gives them their yellow color.
The soldiers are also really small, not that much bigger than the workers (.5 MM bigger I'd say)...and while I haven't seen the queen in my colony...she is pretty small herself from what I can see on antweb.
Colonies in the wild are also small (100 majors, 500 workers on average)...they are really easy to miss too. However, most of the colonies are in wood (or under objects)...only rarely in the soil. They aren't very active on the surface either, but when you put food (like crushed walnut) nearby they'll somehow know its there and in less than 10 minutes a good portion of the walnut pieces are already gone. Pretty fast recruitment and retrieval of the food. However, I have yet to discover if colonies change in anyway (more workers, less soldiers or just more ants in general or just the same) in captivity. Some species grow bigger in captivity than they would in the wild. My colony is too new for me to know, however.
In one area, they were active pretty much all day...except I believe it was because it was mostly shaded. Part of the area got sun, but maybe it was because it was a more mature colony with a lot more colonies around. In my own colony, they only come out when I turn off the heat lamp (which is at night) and the colony by my garage I don't even see in the day time. They don't seem to like to come out in the day time where there is a lot of light. It may instead have to do with heat...they might like it on the cooler side. I haven't really discovered why most colonies are only out in the evening/night but that one area they were active 24/7.
In this area they did make little trails (not big ones by any means), however they tend to roam around and do their own thing (a bit like Pogonomyrmex in that regard). You won't see a thick trail of them like Argentine ants or other trail making ants.
They are also pretty timid ants from my observations, but light doesn't bother them or breathing on them either. They aren't aggressive at all, and completely ignore other ants (unless attacked). Argentine ants will attack them though, which they defend against and then really injure the Argentine ant. An Argentine ant went to attack a worker, and afterwards went limping away...so I imagine Pheidole moerens have some kind of good chemical attack. However, from what I have seen...both workers/soldiers are pretty slow moving as far as ants go. I'd compare their movement to be sort of subterranean termite-like to give you an idea. Definitely not fast like Pheidole megacephala or other ants (like Dorymyrmex bicolor or Pogonomyrmex). Even with a disturbed nest, they don't swarm or move fast at all...dig into their nesting area or do anything to try to disturb them, and they move the same termite-like speed.
Colonies do not also appear to be aggressive against each other. In one area, there were colonies of this species all over and there was no aggression between them...even though each colony was seperate and had their own queen. I put workers from one area to another colony, completely different colonies and there was no attack or aggression. So, it may be they are like Brachymyrmex in that there is a lot of colonies around that are seperated but they don't attack each other.
They do co-exist with other ants, just fine. However, Argentine ants see them as a threat for some reason. The Monomorium ergatogyna colony that moved into the area, actually "shared" the crushed walnut I put out. There was no aggression between them and both shared the same food source. Both colonies picked the walnuts they wanted, and the other got the other pieces of walnuts. I thought that was interesting.
There is actually a lot of similarities between this species and Brachymyrmex, from their lack of aggression...to the same kind of colony setup (like I said above, a lot of colonies that aren't connected at all...but they don't attack each other).The workers even look a tad similar as well to Brachymyrmex workers, but definitely completely different ants as Pheidole moerens have soldiers and eat seeds.
Now as for finding them. If you live in an area that has them, they can be REALLY hard to find if you haven't seen them before. They pretty much go unnoticed, partly due to their size (and small colonies) and also because they don't come out that much in most areas. They also mostly come out at night, and even then...probably easy to miss. Finding them can be hard too, as some areas (even if they are located in your state) might not have any at all.
I know in Irvine (Southern California) all the way up into Costa Mesa...I see them all over the place. Even amongst Argentine ants. Only in urban, irrigated areas however. But, at first I never even noticed them and once I did, I see them all over now. Once you see them (they are really small, and orange/yellowish in color and a bit clear) its pretty easy to notice them afterwards. While they will nest in soil (rarely), you'll have to find places with wood (even bark works for them as they'll chew into it to make their colony) for the best chances.
Keeping them is the easy part. Give them seeds (or crushed nuts), honey and occasional insect (not living of course, as these ants are too small and probably end up injured/dead) and they are good to go. They'll need a more wet environment, as where they nest tends to be in irrigated areas and I've only seen them where its always wet. My setup I have some dirt (a few inches only) with the piece of wood they were in. To be honest, I don't know if I have the queen or not...but I assume I do as its a nice sized piece of wood and a lot of ants go in/out of it (even with brood). There wasn't any other tunnels or caverns where I found them, so I'm pretty sure I got the entire colony. I don't want to risk killing the queen (who I imagine is very "squishy") by breaking apart their home just to see if I got the queen or not...that is a horrible way to do it lol. And ruins a perfectly good ant home. A better way would probably just to entice them to move by giving them a custom ant formicarium where you can see them always and let the wood dry out. Which is pretty much the most common way of moving ants anyway.
Hope this helps get more information out on Pheidole moerens. The next big update to this will likely be how their colony develops in captivity compared to in the wild (unless it ends up developing the same). I may also have information on their mating flights, but if I move out of state this year...I might not be able to get to that part. And update on anything else I find that may prove useful knowledge of this species.
Edited by Vendayn, May 16 2015 - 12:35 AM.
