13 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

9-4-2013
 
I caught this Camponotus yogi queen September 4th 2013, wandering around at night on a dirt road in the Cleveland
National Forest of Southern California.
Original ID thread: https://www.formicul...nty-ca-9-5-2013
 



 
It laid two eggs a few days later.

[dspdrew]

Update 10-31-2013
 
Today her first worker eclosed, and she still has another cocoon that should be eclosing sometime with in the next week or so. She also now has 4 more brand new larvae. One weird thing about this queen, and she always keeps her brood at the dry end of the test tube right next to the cotton, as opposed to the wet end where every other queen I have ever had keeps their brood.
 

 

 

[Anhzor]

for a moment there it hough the worker was a queen

[dspdrew]

for a moment there it hough the worker was a queen

Haha yeah, every time they fill up on food, they look like little queens.

[dspdrew]

Update 11-22-2013

 

Two days ago another worker eclosed, but there seems to be something wrong with it. It doesn't seem to be able to move any of its back legs, so it doesn't really move around at all. The last time I checked on it, it kind of looked dead. There are a few more larvae in there still, so hopefully those will turn out okay. These ants are still keeping their brood at the opposite end of the test tube from where the water is, something I haven't seen any of my other ants do before.

[dspdrew]

Update 11-27-2013

 

The other day I noticed that the second worker now seems to be just fine. :]

[dspdrew]

Update 3-18-2014

 

This queen now has two workers. She recently had two new larvae, but now it appears they've been eaten.

[dspdrew]

Update 5-25-2014
 
So far there are still only two workers, and a couple larvae. I boosted them with one C. vicinus pupa, and two pupae from another unknown Camponotus species of the Tanaemyrmex subgenus, possibly also C. vicinus (different color variety) or C. sansabeanus. So far they have adopted these cocoons and are taking good care of them. This will be interesting to see what happens then they eclose being that the pupae are of a different, much larger subgenus.
 
Here they are when there was only two cocoons.
 

[Gregory2455]

Update!!!

[dspdrew]

Update 9-28-2014
 
Other than extremely slow growth, this colony seems to be pretty healthy. They now have four workers, and three larvae.
 

 

 
 
Here's a better look at the queen's truncated face.
 

 

 
 
The cocoons from the other species never eclosed properly and just ended up dying, so I took them out.

[Gregory2455]

I want to see one of the major's faces.

[dspdrew]

Update 1-15-2015

 

Well this journey came to an end. I found this queen dead a few days ago.

[TennesseeAnts]

The queen's face looks like Colobopsis.

[CatsnAnts]

The queen's face looks like Colobopsis.

Lol, so true though