680 replies to this topic

[OiledOlives]

Gyne is definitely alive then. Nice!

[ANTdrew]

Update 4-5-2022

 

Time to stop griping and get off our gasters with better content on here. To that end, here's an update on my Divas. They have been extremely active lately and very focused on brood growth. This is actually my favorite time of year to keep this species since they become so voracious. Midsummer would be my least favorite time due to their usually taking a break from colony growth.

 

They currently have at least six or seven fat queen larvae, and perhaps there are even more I can't see in the mess of ants. Lots of new workers are eclosing as well, so instead of giving up on this colony like I was planning to do just a few weeks ago, I now have some hope for them. Queen Sigyn could very possibly still be in there, but in Loch Ness Monster mode. It would be really cool, though, to see if they had mated intranidally. In that case, I might be the first person to document it for this species. Myrmicines do many weird and wonderful things, so who knows? I'll have to wait and see what keeps developing for them. They're new powerfeeding regimen should help with whatever they're up to.

 

Here's a better photo of some of the queen larvae. There's some even bigger ones just behind this scrum of workers.

 

Here's one of Sigyn's daughters from last season. Could she be inseminated and producing now? One always has to keep hope alive...

 

[Temperateants]

 

Update 4-5-2022

 

Time to stop griping and get off our gasters with better content on here. To that end, here's an update on my Divas. They have been extremely active lately and very focused on brood growth. This is actually my favorite time of year to keep this species since they become so voracious. Midsummer would be my least favorite time due to their usually taking a break from colony growth.

 

They currently have at least six or seven fat queen larvae, and perhaps there are even more I can't see in the mess of ants. Lots of new workers are eclosing as well, so instead of giving up on this colony like I was planning to do just a few weeks ago, I now have some hope for them. Queen Sigyn could very possibly still be in there, but in Loch Ness Monster mode. It would be really cool, though, to see if they had mated intranidally. In that case, I might be the first person to document it for this species. Myrmicines do many weird and wonderful things, so who knows? I'll have to wait and see what keeps developing for them. They're new powerfeeding regimen should help with whatever they're up to.

 

Here's a better photo of some of the queen larvae. There's some even bigger ones just behind this scrum of workers.

 

 

Here's one of Sigyn's daughters from last season. Could she be inseminated and producing now? One always has to keep hope alive...

 

I really hope Sigyn is still alive in there. If not, has it ever been observed in nature that the queen's daughter can "inherit the throne?"

[azzaaazzzz00]

Hey, maybe she's in the very back sitting on a throne made of brood...wait ants can't really "sit" can they?

[Mettcollsuss]

I really hope Sigyn is still alive in there. If not, has it ever been observed in nature that the queen's daughter can "inherit the throne?"

Well there are gamergates, and even if you're only talking about queen alates, there are inbreeding species, so sort of. But inbreeding species are all already polygynous, and the in-nest mating just increases the number of queens, doesn't replace them. So to my knowledge there hasn't been a case where a monogynous species has a single queen alate mate in the nest to replace the mother queen.

[ANTdrew]

I really hope Sigyn is still alive in there. If not, has it ever been observed in nature that the queen's daughter can "inherit the throne?"

Well there are gamergates, and even if you're only talking about queen alates, there are inbreeding species, so sort of. But inbreeding species are all already polygynous, and the in-nest mating just increases the number of queens, doesn't replace them. So to my knowledge there hasn't been a case where a monogynous species has a single queen alate mate in the nest to replace the mother queen.

So what is your theory about what is going on here, Mett?
I’d love to hear theories from other folks like Cheeto, Anthony, or TennesseeAnts as well.

Edited by ANTdrew, April 5 2022 - 3:20 PM.

[Mettcollsuss]

Well as others have mentioned, it would be the first record of something like this happening so that makes it seem unlikely to me, though I guess nothing is impossible. The original queen still being alive seems the most likely to me. I guess in a couple weeks we'll see whether that mass of eggs are worker or male eggs. If they turn out to be workers and the colony, one way or another, has an egg-laying queen, I don't know how one would even tell if it's the original queen or a new one.

[Canadian anter]

 

 

I really hope Sigyn is still alive in there. If not, has it ever been observed in nature that the queen's daughter can "inherit the throne?"

Well there are gamergates, and even if you're only talking about queen alates, there are inbreeding species, so sort of. But inbreeding species are all already polygynous, and the in-nest mating just increases the number of queens, doesn't replace them. So to my knowledge there hasn't been a case where a monogynous species has a single queen alate mate in the nest to replace the mother queen.

So what is your theory about what is going on here, Mett?
I’d love to hear theories from other folks like Cheeto, Anthony, or TennesseeAnts as well.

 

I remember Otter has had a colony of these produce inbred fertilized alates (although I think he removed them), so I don't think it's impossible someone took over.

[ANTdrew]

Wow! For real? I need to get in touch with him then.

[ANTdrew]

Update 5-13-2022

 

Happy Friday the 13th, all. As I track the progress of the this colony recently, the glimmer of hope I had a few weeks ago that they still have a producing queen is starting to fade. They have still have massive brood pile, but it is entirely made up of males at this point. The few queens and new workers that eclosed lately must have been laid last fall before the incident happened when I lost track of Sigyn. The upside is they will probably be able to stage a good nuptial flight this year if I figure out how to make that happen, but I'm leaning towards moving on from this colony to make room for a new one. Here are some brood photos and a GIF. Try to find the males.

 

 

 

 

[UtahAnts]

Awesome GIF! How did you make it?

[ANTdrew]

Thanks! I shot a video with my phone and a macro lens. Then I uploaded it to ezgif.com and converted it.

[TennesseeAnts]

Interesting... Are you planning on keeping them much longer? I'd be interested to see what happens with all those new males.

Edited by TennesseeAnts, May 14 2022 - 6:03 AM.

[ANTdrew]

I don’t know, man. I feel like releasing them, so they can stage one last nuptial flight before marching off into the sunset.

[FloridaAnts]

I am a bit new on formiculture, so excuse me if I am wrong, but I read in someone’s Dorymyrmex bureni journal that their colony produced tons of males and no workers throughout the summer-And still had a queen(And had 20 workers)

It seems unlikely though if you hadn’t had a production of males this big in the past… why would it happen now?

[TennesseeAnts]

I don't know about with Crematogaster, but some of my other colonies that have produced alates would alternate between primarily producing males and primarily producing females each year. The first year my Pheidole dentata produced alates they only had a few males and a couple dozen females, but the next year they swapped and made probably about a hundred males and a handful of females.

[ANTdrew]

Reboot Back in Black! 9-10-2022

I told y'all kids I wasn't going to give up on my favorite genus of ants, so here I am back to reboot this journal with a new set of Divas!
AC/DC - Back In Black (Official Video) - YouTube

Meet Queen Della. She's got a nice backstory: my buddy found her at the beach back in mid-July when she landed on him. He carried her around for a week in a ziplock bag with a damp paper towel in it while he enjoyed his vacation. She even went on a fishing boat at some point. When he got back, I picked her up and got her in a proper test tube. She promptly laid eggs and got her first workers in early August.



The colony is growing well now and currently has 11 workers and a healthy brood pile. The weird flight time has me doubting these are cerasi, but I'll need to get some under a microscope when the colony gets bigger. I have high hopes for the colony, and I plan to learn from all my past mistakes with Sigyn. Stay tuned!




I also found seven new C. cerasi queens over the past few weeks, so my Crematogaster slump is officially over.

Attached Images

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Edited by ANTdrew, September 10 2022 - 7:14 AM.

[AnthonyP163]

Hoping for another 30 pages of pure Crematogaster content! 

[ANTdrew]

Hoping for another 30 pages of pure Crematogaster content!

You know it, my friend!