26 replies to this topic

[sirjordanncurtis]

I caught this queen yesterday in Northern California while anting at a location with YsTheAnt. I'm not very good at ID's so I'm not sure if she's actually C. maritimus, but if you guys find anything out, feel free to tell me and I can change the title

She's around 14mm and still has her wings attached. She is pretty skinny at the moment, possibly more so than most queens, which are usually filled with stores of fat. I did try giving her some honey on cotton, but apart from standing on it, she didn't seem to interested. I don't want to bother her at the moment, but if you guys have any suggestions, those are definitely welcome.

 

Edited by sirjordanncurtis, May 27 2020 - 4:52 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

Beautiful queen! She seems to be missing her front left leg though...

[sirjordanncurtis]

Beautiful queen! She seems to be missing her front left leg though...

Yeah, she kept on moving the partially severed leg around for a while, but I think she's okay.

 

Also, I just realized I completely posted this in the wrong subforum, if any of the mods see this, could you guys help me move it to Journals?

[Rstheant]

You jumped and climbed a tree to get this one....

I should have brought a ladder

[B_rad0806]

hope its fertile

Edited by B_rad0806, March 19 2019 - 4:15 PM.

[sirjordanncurtis]

You jumped and climbed a tree to get this one....

I should have brought a ladder

Definitely worth it though

[sirjordanncurtis]

Wings came off, probably easier to see and hopefully ID now

 

[YsTheAnt]

Definitely a maritimus. Shiny black and reddish purplish legs, smaller than vicinus in size (11-13mm is the legnth of the queen I'm guessing).

Edited by YsTheAnt, March 19 2019 - 8:59 PM.

[sirjordanncurtis]

Definitely a maritimus. Shiny black and reddish purplish legs, smaller than vicinus in size (11-13mm is the legnth of the queen I'm guessing).

Thanks!

[Rstheant]

YAAAAASSSSSS. Jealous. I have to study for my school tests.....

[sirjordanncurtis]

3-24

I'm pretty sure she has laid her first egg. It looks a little funky, but she's still learning how to lay eggs by herself, so we can't expect it to be perfect. It's more orange than I expected, but it's also cool to see eggs of varying colors too. Since the eggs are currently composed of the stored fat in the queen, it's likely that once they begin to take more protein, the eggs will get much smaller.

[YsTheAnt]

Even last year, my queens for this species layed pink and orange eggs. Completely normal in my experience for them.

[sirjordanncurtis]

Even last year, my queens for this species layed pink and orange eggs. Completely normal in my experience for them.

Have ur queens this year started laying yet?

[YsTheAnt]

One of them has. Last year I caught some too.

[JenC]

How long do their eggs take to get from egg to worker?

[YsTheAnt]

1.5-2.5 months depending on temperature.

[sirjordanncurtis]

She now has a small pile of 4-5 larvae. The larvae have an interesting color: a mix between orange and clear. As a a test I gave this queen a pupa from my Camponotus sansabeanus colony. During the transfer, I accidentally also picked up two small larvae which were also stuck to the pupa. I'm trying to keep my expectations as low as possible, but she has accepted all of the brood. I'm not sure if the queen will end up be able to open up this workers' pupa or if she will be able to have the pupa as a successful member of her colony. However, the queen has been feeding the two larvae, which have both since grown considerably larger. I hope she is able to do well with this boosted brood because if she is unable to have the sansabeanus worker be part of her colony, this'll also waste resources she uses up feeding the larvae.

[sirjordanncurtis]

The two sansabeanus workers. She would have more, but I decided to try a brood boost experiment with my C. semitestaceus for Camponotus maritimus and took one pupa away.

They also didn't open the last pupa correctly, so that's another lost worker 

Edited by sirjordanncurtis, June 2 2019 - 3:04 PM.

[sirjordanncurtis]

I'm trying this species again this year. I got 5 queens, but 2 of them ate their brood. I'm taking fewer chances this year and have put as much protection from light for these ants as I can. Apparently they're very sensitive to it. However, because of that, I also can't get pictures with color. This is the most advanced queen with 4 pupae.

[Antkid12]

cool!, she is so shiny!