387 replies to this topic

[AnthonyP163]

Lasius neoniger flew there? It's been far too cold here for any flights. Hoping for some tomorrow.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

They actually flew on Labour Day, but I missed the flights. I found this one under a rock a few days later.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I'm beginning to think the Camponotus queen might actually be C. chromaiodes. First, the colony now contains one completely fine nanitic and one dead nanitic, and since half the brood came from a different queen, I could easily have mixed up two species I didn't expect to find together, resulting in worker and brood death as the queen killed off the foreign species. Second, she does appear to have reddish legs, which puts my original ID into doubt, along with her golden gaster hair, which rules out novaeboracensis. It's also possible I crushed some pupae during collection or transfer.

Edited by Antennal_Scrobe, September 10 2019 - 12:38 PM.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I think C. chromaiodes has hairs all over its body, though, and this queen is smooth. I guess damaged pupae might make the most sense. Who knows.

[TennesseeAnts]

Pics?

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Nevermind. I have looked at pictures of C. pennsylvanicus and it seems the slightly reddish legs aren't unheard of. I'm pretty sure I hurt the pupae by accident, they just unwrapped one and it looks like it has a dent. The Formica pallidefulva have one pupa that is on the cusp of eclosing.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

So just a normal Tuesday, caught 16 queens, nothing special. So what have you guys been doing?

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Oh my bad it was 17.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Actually just got an 18th one.

[DDD101DDD]

What is your secret to finding so many?

[Antennal_Scrobe]

What is your secret to finding so many?

Nothing. I walked outside, found a Lasius queen, put it away, then wandered around some more and saw males everywhere and swarming Brachymyrmex workers. Then came the queens. 6 Lasius brevicornis, 1 Crematogaster cerasi, 9 Brachymyrmex depilis, 1 Lasius latipes, 1 Stigmatomma pallipes. And those are just the ones I took. It was the perfect storm. It was hot, humid, and it just rained last night.

Edited by Antennal_Scrobe, September 10 2019 - 5:16 PM.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Umm, how do I actually care for Stigmatomma? Has anyone raised a colony from a single queen before?

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Crematogaster queen is trying to get as close to the heating cable as possible.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Went out in the middle of the night to catch queens. Got another Lasius and a Myrmecina americana. Not sure how to care for the latter. All normal fully claustral queens are in test tubes, or, in the case of the Brachymyrmex, the old Temnothorax formicarium. The rest are in temporary containers. also I'm out of test tubes so it's not like I had a choice. Sadly one of the Lasius from earlier has died. I think I squished her by accident while collecting her and didn't notice.

Edited by Antennal_Scrobe, September 10 2019 - 6:27 PM.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

The Stigmatomma queen died.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Let the L. latipes queen go. Then it started pouring and I feel really guilty for putting her out there.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Wait did I forget to say I caught 3 more Crematogaster queens today? I also got to see two Ponera alates mating.

[Kaelwizard]

Cool, my P. occidentalis got here.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Cool, my P. occidentalis got here.

Mine should be here today or tomorrow.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Formica pallidefulva got their first worker! I also released two Formica queen who were obviously not going to produce anything. Camponotus also got their second ant.