7 replies to this topic

[Gregory2455]

On my trip to the desert on 7/21/2015, I caught nine "purpleback" queens. Two died relatively quickly, but all the others are fertile and by now have workers. About a month ago we determined that these are likely Myrmecocystus mimicus, so that is the name this journal will be going under until/unless proven otherwise. These queens' brood develop significantly slower than Myrmecocystus mexicanus and slightly slower than Myrmecocystus navajo, so they were among the last Myrmecocystus queens of mine to get workers. I believe by now the largest colony just crossed 10-15 workers. 

 

Here is the queen of the currently largest colony with her first worker.

 

Here is one of the smaller colonies as of today.

Edited by Gregory2455, February 20 2019 - 10:05 PM.

[antmaniac]

The workers are busy digging the cotton. Hopefully the workers can turn into honey pots in future.

[LC3]

is the queen drinking the cotton in the first video?

[Gregory2455]

Possibly.

[NightsWebs]

Greg let me know when you want me to take one of those colonies off your hands!

[Gregory2455]

Update: 2/17/2016

Well, I am down to only 3 colonies. However, all three of these colonies are doing very good. I moved all of them from their old dry test tubes to new test tubes. Here is the largest colony. 

[Gregory2455]

Down to only two colonies. Not sure why these things are so hard to keep compared to mexicanus, which I have all of the ones I caught last year still alive and fine.

[antsinmypants]

Are Myrmecocystus queens fully claustral? What do you feed the workers?