1787 replies to this topic

[DaveJay]

It's been a relatively warm and dry winter in most of the country, I watched the winter report on Landline on the weekend, average temps were up and average rainfall down so I guess the seasons are a bit out of whack. Not good for farmers but it might be an interesting "ant season".
I'm definitely looking out for the larger Campontotus species!

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - Spring 3rd September 2018

officially spring here, but still too darn cold....


Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen
heat cable
7 nanitics, 6 cocoons, 13 larvae

4 more cocoons, and I counted 13 larvae!
 
click to enlarge


queen closeup




Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
heatcable
1 minor worker, 2 eggs

Wooo she laid a second egg!
Based on the past, she usually lays in batches of two with a gap between each batch, but we shall see.



Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
No eggs. 2 workers
 
limbs of their sisters scattered around...



 
Pheidole Colony A - Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen
heatcable
33'ish workers,
 
Their major pupa seems to have dissappeared WTF.

Anyway this is one of two test tubes that the water dam gets dragged down as the water empties.
So what happens is that there is a large gap between the queen and the heat cable, and so that's why this colony stalled in development, as the brood is no longer being brought up to get warmed.
So I moved the test tube further over the heat cable and Blu tacked it down, so it's now an inch from the queen,
and the workers have brought the brood down to the test tube surface and the queen has also moved down.
That should bring them back to speed with the other Pheidole colonies.


Pheidole Colony B - Pheidole sp, all black 8mm queen
 heatcable
21 workers. 1 Major. 1 major larvae

They should catch up to colony A soon.
First major has darkened a lot more now, while second plump major larvae is already well underway and still only at 20+ workers!
You can see where the dump all the cotton the workers at the front keep pulling on...






Pheidole Colony C - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 7mm queens
heatcable
16 workers - lots of brood

Pic of the two queens - one stays on the cotton, and one with the brood at the heatcable.
So far they are truly polygynous.



Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
 
No eggs, 1 nanitics, 1 small Camponotus larvae

Camponotus larvae is neither growing nor dying....



Camponotus suffusus 18+mm - queenless
 heat cable
14 workers, 5 large larvae + more? ( some foreign from a different Camponotus species)
 
note the different colours of the workers



 
Iridomyrmex - black 8.5mm queen
aquarium filter dam and cotton wool chamber wall/entrance - heat cable
 
Colony A - Just under 20 nanitics
 
Queen's gaster is stretched to the limit, either filled with eggs, food or both! First time I've see that
 

 
Colony B - 11 nanitics

2 workers feeding the queen at the same time
 



Pheidole sp. red, dark gaster 7mm queen
cotton double chamber setup - heat cable

1 nanitic - bunch of brood, 1pupa , 20+ 1st instar larvae and eggs
 
1 pupa, so second nanitic should be online soon.
 

 
 
Rhytidoponera species - black 9mm queen
Tub and tubes setup - exposed to shadowed light
heatcable
 I put their container on top of the loop of heatcable lying on the floor, so that should help them get the next 6 workers out quicker.
Will most likely sell them when they reach 10 workers.
 

 
brood feeding on silverfish I found in my bathroom

 
closeup of queen and worker

Edited by CoolColJ, September 5 2018 - 1:03 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 3rd September 2018 - Queen update


Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm
heatcable
2 pupa, small clump of larvae


3x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm
heat cable
3 large larvae, and 6 smaller ones? 5eggs?

This is the second setup that has the water dam being moved back as the water drains, and so they are really far away from the heat cable
Which explains why their larvae has stopped pupating for a while now.
I moved their test tube up, so the queens are now 1 inch from the heat cable, which should jump start things.
I see they have an extra clump of 5 eggs now

 

 

Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm

No eggs

I think I will move her into my empty MiniHearth soon, before she starts laying.
Would prefer the Atom C nest, if I kick the suffusus workers out of it....


Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm

Queen 1 - heat cable - 2 pupa. big clump of brood, over 20, some small and medium larvae
double chamber setup, exposed to light
 
Queen 2 - heat cable - 3 large larvae, 4 first instar larvae?
I have her in my double test tube modded setup, with a polystyrene foam chamber entrance
in red test tube rack
 
Moved queen 2 out onto heatcable and is now exposed to light


Pheidole cf antipodum 15mm queen
in magnetic glass top gypsum founding nest

32+ brood
 
I keep seeing her at the closest port rummaging around, especially today.
Not sure what she is doing, but at least all 32 brood are still live and kicking.





 

Edited by CoolColJ, September 3 2018 - 2:22 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 4th September 2018


Rhytidoponera species - black 9mm queen
Tub and tubes setup - exposed to shadowed light
heatcable

 

I gave them 3 cocoons from a green Rhytidoponera colony. Should be interesting

 

click to enlarge - these ones, there must be at least 3 different species in this group... one purple, one black, some a combo of purple and green etc

unlike other genus, Rhytidoponera can take workers from other species into the colony!

 

 
Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm queen
in Minihearth
No eggs
 

My "black" consobrinus queen has been eggless for a while. She just sits at the end of the test tube.
Anyway I figured I better move her to a new nest before she lays eggs (most likely within the next 2 weeks) and just as well I did, because the test tube only had 1cm of water left.

 

So I put her into my unused MiniHearth nest.

She ignored the honey in the outworld, and eventually found the hole to the chamber below, which she barely squeezed into

 

Interesting thing, she found the Nest Mate water thing first, and started drinking water from it for a while... hmm why did she not do this in the test tube...?

First she just sat looking out the glass side at me

Now she just hangs on the wall next the Nest Mate water tube thing in the left side port.

I may or may not keep her here. I would ideally put her into one of the Atom C nest I have after I kick out the queenless suffusus workers....

 

I love her colour scheme, much better than the usual orange thorax patterns IMO

her workers will look even cooler

 

Edited by CoolColJ, September 3 2018 - 10:16 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
8 eggs
 
Got a gorgeous and chunky Iridomyrmex purpureus queen.
 
Could be just my imagination, but while she is the same length as the one I last had that died, 14mm, this one seems a lot more chunky and thicker all round.
Larger head, with bigger and cuter face and eyes, plus a docile nature
Also looks more iridescent
 
The one that died was from Queensland, so there are probably regional differences.
She loves the heating cable, and dwarfs all the other Pheidole and Iridomyrmex queens sitting besides her test tube on the heating cable 
 
The one I used to have, that died, before birthing nanitics
click to enlarge

 
The new one
 
Album of pics - lots  https://imgur.com/a/QDBGOPe
 

Edited by CoolColJ, September 5 2018 - 6:44 PM.

[DaveJay]

Very nice! Much different than the pictures on the various sale sights although your pictures are much better in general.

[CoolColJ]

Very nice! Much different than the pictures on the various sale sights although your pictures are much better in general.

Only because I use a flash
Which makes the iridescence come out

here is a noisey video of her
She really is a docile one, with those puppy dog eyes. LOL nothing like how aggressive her workers will be

[CoolColJ]

Spring 5th September 2018

 

Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen

20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, and cotton double chamber setup - heat cable
8 eggs
 

I moved her into a fresh 20mm test tube, with a cotton double chamber setup.

Heat cable placed just behind the chamber entrance as per my usual setup.

 

To do this I position the heat cable close to the front of the old test tube so she would place her eggs within easy reach, then dumped her into a container and manually moved the eggs over, then guide her into the new test tube.

I placed the eggs on the cotton chamber entrance.

 

She did stress out, but eventually found her eggs.

Right now she's on her tippy toes, standing upright like a dog begging, looking onto the egg pile she kept on the cotton chamber entrance

Pretty amusing, but I hope she moves them down to the heat cable.

 

Maybe I should have waited till the brood had pupated before moving...

 

I think this one is going to be a fast grower, as the eggs appear to be small larvae already!

 

Camponotus suffusus 18+mm - queenless
Atom C nest inside outworld  - heat cable
14 workers, 2 Pupa 1 large larvae + 3 small? ( some foreign from a different Camponotus species)

 

2 of the large larvae left spun a cocoon, and there can't be too many suffusus larvae left, so some of these must be foreign.

Then again there used to be tons of foreign larvae so they must eaten quite a lot of them.

Or maybe the kept them together with their own larvae so the larvae could feed directly on the foreign ones...

 

Pheidole Colony B - Pheidole sp, all black 8mm queen
heatcable
25 workers. 1 Major. 1 major larvae

There is about 25 workers now, up 4 from a few days ago, and more 6 light brown pupa on the pile.

So they are about to catch up to Colony A!

 

Fed them a small cricket bit today and once again the major did the heavy lifting and dragged it back to the other end.

Colony as whole seems more brave and productive since the first major was born

 

That second major larvae is getting close to pupating.

Less than 50 workers and already rolling out a second major.

Fast growing majors that's for sure, and fuels my suspicion that these are just a smaller major caste and there will be a third larger one.... so I might have to hang onto this one just to be sure

Edited by CoolColJ, September 5 2018 - 5:52 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 6th September 2018

 

Melophorus sp. colony - black orange 7-8mm queen

in acrylic founding nest
No eggs. 1 worker

 

It looks like another nanitic died

So with 1 worker left, which may die within the next few weeks, and no eggs, it doesn't look good.

She should lay soon, but it will take 2 months before a new worker emerges.

 

Will have to move her to a different nest if the last worker dies, so I can feed her myself.

 

 

[CoolColJ]

I captured a interesting looking ant (turns out to be a Dolichoderus clarki ) today. It was just walking along the bush trail, while a P.ammon was also carrying her sister a few inches away
It has large gold heart shapped gaster like a Crematogaster, with metallic Rhytidoponera colours in the upper body!

I don't think it's a queen, but it does have a domed thorax...
About 9mm in length

currently enjoying some raw honey for the last 15mins

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, September 6 2018 - 11:39 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 7th September 2018

Melophorus sp.colony -  red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube - heatcable

1 minor worker, 5 eggs

 

Damn, the queen laid another 3 eggs the last couple of days and I didn't even notice till today!

The worker is holding them her jaws while upside down standing near the heat cable
Some of the eggs have hatched into small first instar larvae already

 

click to enlarge

 

 

Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen
heatcable
2 pupa, small clump of larvae

 

One of the pupa has turned light brown, so she should have her first nanitic in a week's time

[DaveJay]

I captured a interesting looking ant (turns out to be a Dolichoderus clarki ) today. It was just walking along the bush trail, while a P.ammon was also carrying her sister a few inches away
It has large gold heart shapped gaster like a Crematogaster, with metallic Rhytidoponera colours in the upper body!

I don't think it's a queen, but it does have a domed thorax...
About 9mm in length

currently enjoying some raw honey for the last 15mins

click to enlarge

Cool looking ant! I hope you find Queens!

[CoolColJ]

Cool looking ant! I hope you find Queens!

It's a long shot as there is no info on these ants, and when they fly.
But it does look like you can only find them in NSW and Tasmania

When I take her back to where I found her, I will just follow her back to the nest hopefully.

This does add another species I have seen here in this small stretch of bush near my house
Amazing density and diversity here!

[ConcordAntman]

CCJ, that ant has an amazing thorax! Great shots as usual!!

[CoolColJ]

CCJ, that ant has an amazing thorax! Great shots as usual!!

Thanks

And so far she has sat completely upside down in the petri dish, most of the time. First of any ants I have captured

[CoolColJ]

Spring 9th September 2018

Melophorus sp.colony -  red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube - heatcable
1 minor worker, 7 eggs
 
7 eggs now! Wow she's making up for lost time... might even get a medial and major in this batch
Thankfully the only worker left is a regular one that should live for over a year or more, so there will be plenty of workers around by the time she dies
 
click to enlarge

 


Pheidole sp. red, dark gaster 7mm queen
cotton double chamber setup - heat cable

2 nanitics -  4 pupa , 30+ brood

 

Second nanitic just eclosed, the third is not far behind. 3 and 4 should eclose in a week's time

Queen has been busy, she's up 10 brood since last week
 

Edited by CoolColJ, September 8 2018 - 7:42 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Colony update - Spring 9th September 2018


Opisthopsis Rufithorax (strobe ant) 10mm queen
heat cable - Atom C nest inside circular outworld
7 nanitics, 6 cocoons, 13 larvae ?

Man there was some nasty white web of mold spreading out on the left side of the nest, it had reached the water tower!
Had no choice but to take the nest out and pop open the lid!
Off course the ants freaked out and strobed around a bit
Brushed the webbed mold off, and under it was all the bits of crickets I gave them recently.
I didn't think the Atom C would be wet enough inside for things to mold, as the water in the water tower never touches the inside of the nest...

So lesson learned, much smaller pieces of cricket and I will leave it outside in the outworld, at much lower frequency.
If they are hungry chances are the worker will just eat it there and not drag in back to the nest



Melophorus sp.- red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube connected to outworld - heatcable
1 minor worker, 7 eggs



Melophorus sp.- black orange 7-8mm queen
Acrylic founding nest
No eggs. 2 workers
 
I thought they were down to 1 worker, but I was wrong, so still 2 workers

Feel like I should move them out to a different nest before she starts laying eggs.
I have another gypsum plugged refillable test tube, so I do the same setup as the colony above, but will have to kick out the P.rufifemur to a different nest...

 
Pheidole Colony A - Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen
heatcable

33+ workers

yay, major larvae is back



 

Pheidole Colony B - Pheidole sp, all black 8mm queen
 heatcable
30+ workers. 1 Major. 1 major larvae

So many eclosures that they have cracked the 30 worker mark, and the second major larvae is getting quite plump
Note the bloated gaster of the major, they seem to function as repletes in this species, at least at this age.





Pheidole Colony C - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 7mm queens
heatcable
16+ workers - lots of brood

theya re about to have a worker explosion.
Looks like the first major larvae is up, the large one next to the dominant queen on the cotton




Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
 
No eggs, 1 nanitics, 1 small Camponotus larvae

Wow, the Camponotus larvae has had a growth spurt and has a long snout now...
Theya re actually feeding it...?


Camponotus suffusus 18+mm - queenless
 Atom C nest inside circular outworld - heat cable
14 workers, 2 pupa, 2 large and a few smaller larvae ( some foreign from a different Camponotus species)
 
I see one of the workers starting open up a pupa, which me be a foreign one, will update

 
Iridomyrmex - black 8.5mm queen
aquarium filter dam and cotton wool chamber wall/entrance - heat cable
 
Colony A - Just under 16 nanitics
 
Colony B - 15 nanitics

Wow Colony B one has caught up to Colony A, and started 2 weeks behind
Also seems to have more brood now, while the workers are actively eating a dried up piece of cricket all the time.

Anyway I have sold one of these, so I just have decide which to keep


Pheidole sp. red, dark gaster 7mm queen
cotton double chamber setup - heat cable

3 nanitics - 3pupa , 30+ brood
 

 
Rhytidoponera species - black 9mm queen
Tub and tubes setup - exposed to shadowed light
heatcable
6 larvae, 3 foreign cocoons from green Rhytidoponera species

Not much has happened,but they drgagd the cricket bit i gave them, and 2 of the cocoons were stick on it..

[CoolColJ]

Spring 9th September 2018 - Queen update


Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm
heatcable
3 pupa, small clump of larvae

1 dark pupa ready to eclose soon
She is about to officially have her own colony




3x Phediole sp. red head/black body 8-9mm
heat cable
3 large larvae, and 6 smaller ones? 5eggs?

No much has changed...
 
 
Camponotus consobrinus 16-17mm
in Minihearth
No eggs
 

Well she is not bothered by the light exposure, she hangs out against the glass!

She has to lay soon, hopefully this week as we have a few very warm days coming up

 

Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm

Queen 1 - heat cable - 4 pupa. big clump of brood, over 20, some small and medium larvae
double chamber setup, exposed to light
 
Queen 2 - heat cable - 3 large larvae, 4 first instar larvae?
I have her in my double test tube modded setup, with a polystyrene foam chamber entrance
in red test tube rack
 

Queen 1 has more pupa now, should get her first nanitic within 2 weeks

Moved queen 2 back into red test tube holder, to make room for the Meat ant queen on the heat cable

 

 

Pheidole cf antipodum 15mm queen
in magnetic glass top gypsum founding nest

32+ brood
 
no major changes

 

 

Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen

20mm test tube, cotton double chamber setup - heatcable
9 eggs

 

She seems to spazz out a lot more now.. frantically groom herself,  and then pull on the cotton of the double chamber setup.

then go completely docile, talk about bipolar

 

 

 

[CoolColJ]

I captured a interesting looking ant (turns out to be a Dolichoderus clarki ) today. It was just walking along the bush trail, while a P.ammon was also carrying her sister a few inches away
It has large gold heart shapped gaster like a Crematogaster, with metallic Rhytidoponera colours in the upper body!

I don't think it's a queen, but it does have a domed thorax...
About 9mm in length

currently enjoying some raw honey for the last 15mins

click to enlarge

I went back to release her today, and in the area I came across more of these in a loose trail foraging!
There were a couple of Polyrhachis ammon nearby, so these are slightly shorter than an ammon, but still pretty big for workers, so the queen has to be over 1cm.

Gonna have to stalk the area for queens

[DaveJay]

I captured a interesting looking ant (turns out to be a Dolichoderus clarki ) today. It was just walking along the bush trail, while a P.ammon was also carrying her sister a few inches away
It has large gold heart shapped gaster like a Crematogaster, with metallic Rhytidoponera colours in the upper body!

I don't think it's a queen, but it does have a domed thorax...
About 9mm in length

currently enjoying some raw honey for the last 15mins

click to enlarge

I went back to release her today, and in the area I came across more of these in a loose trail foraging!
There were a couple of Polyrhachis ammon nearby, so these are slightly shorter than an ammon, but still pretty big for workers, so the queen has to be over 1cm.

Gonna have to stalk the area for queens

That's for sure! I hope you catch more than you can house! (hint hint)

I went looking today but no signs of any flights yet but I did see a "princess" alate on Wednesday so it can't be too long, we've had rain and a couple of clear days so I'm hoping soon, driving around with a queen catching kit in my car and keeping small snap lock bags in my pocket.