279 replies to this topic

[Ferox_Formicae]

This journal has been long overdue, but it's about time that I make another journal, one for all of my colonies instead of a whole bunch of different journals. I currently own many colonies, including these following species:

 

• Aphaenogaster carolinensis
• Aphaenogaster fulva
• Aphaenogaster lamellidens
• Brachymyrmex patagonicus X6
• Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) castaneus X3
• Camponotus (Camponotus) chromaiodes X5
• Camponotus (Myrmentoma) decipiens X2
• Camponotus (Myrmentoma) nearcticus X2
• Camponotus (Myrmentoma) snellingi X3
• Colobopsis impressa
• Colobopsis obliqua
• Crematogaster ashmeadi X7
• Crematogaster minutissima X3
• Hypoponera cf. opacior
• Myrmecina americana
• Nylanderia faisonensis X7
• Pheidole bicarinata X2
• Pheidole crassicornis
• Solenopsis carolinensis
• Solenopsis molesta
• Solenopsis invicta X6
• Strumigenys louisianae
• Tapinoma sessile X2
• Temnothorax curvispinosus X6
• Temnothorax pergandei
• Temnothorax schaumii
• Trachymyrmex septentrionalis X3

 

Now, starting with the updates. Yesterday, I caught a few new queens, 4 Solenopsis invicta, Brachymyrmex patagonicus, and Dorymyrmex bureni. The Brachymyrmex and Dorymyrmex queens still have their wings, which may not be true now as last time I checked on them was last night before I covered their test tubes up with tin foil. The Dorymyrmex queen has some really nice coloration, with very apparent stripes on her gaster surface, as well as some nice high reds on her head and mesosoma. I'm hoping she will produce, although I'm not sure if she'll get workers before I put them away for hibernation. Most likely, the Solenopsis queens will, but then again, they don't need hibernation.

 

The larger Camponotus castaneus colony just got a new worker from their boosted pupa. That makes three out of the 6.

 

The Pseudomyrmex pallidus colony has been housed in a large plastic container, and have decided they wanted to move into the hygrometer! Not the first time I've had ants move into something strange, and it certainly won't be the last.

 

The Strumigenys queen has been kept in the dark, and when I check on her, she seems to be crouching over eggs, but I'll have to check on her. Probably later tonight. I've had her for over two months, and I'm really hoping she'll produce soon. I may give her some more springtails to see if she'll eat.

 

I plan on moving the 3-queen Temnothorax curvispinosus into a naturalistic jar vivarium. I've already moved them into an acorn, so the move should be easy and straightforward. I also plan on making a mangrove-style vivarium so I can finally use my Red Mangrove sapling for something. I found the pod in Florida in June, and it got its leaves only a few weeks ago. I plan to possibly move a larger colony of Pseudomyrmex pallidus into it, maybe some other coastal species of ants, like Crematogaster ashmeadi or Hypoponera.

Edited by Ferox_Formicae, May 22 2020 - 6:32 AM.

[TennesseeAnts]

YES!!! THANK YOU!!!
KEEP IT UPDATED

[Ferox_Formicae]

The brood boosted Camponotus castaneus queen has finally laid an egg! I knew the brood boosting would help her out. I've had that queen for over a month now, and it was about time she produced.

 

I checked up on the Strumigenys membranifera queen today, and she's looking okay, though it's really hard to tell whether or not she actually has eggs. As there's not really a chance of me brood boosting her, I'm going to try and see if she'll accept two Strumigenys silvestrii workers. If that doesn't work, I'll give her a few Strumigenys membranifera workers. I'll update on the progress in a few hours.

[RushmoreAnts]

Why not try her own species first? They would probably have a better chance of accepting each other.

[TennesseeAnts]

Cuz Strumigenys silvestrii are cooler. Trap jaws ftw.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Why not try her own species first? They would probably have a better chance of accepting each other.

Cause I already have S. silvestrii on hand, so I wanted to try them out first before they end up dying. I'll try and capture some S. membranifera workers tomorrow.

[Ferox_Formicae]

One of the two Camponotus nearcticus nanitics has died. I'm unsure why though. The colony has been growing very slowly, and they keep consuming their brood. They did get a new pupa though, so let's hope this one does okay.

 

Another Camponotus castaneus major eclosed! This brings the total number of workers up to 10. With luck, next year, they should be getting some biological majors. Only time will tell.

 

The Strumigenys silvestrii have not accepted the Strumigenys membranifera queen. Honestly, I wasn't really expecting them to. I'll try and capture some S. membranifera queens tonight and see if that works out. I'm really hoping this queen produces, as I know it's very difficult to raise a Strumigenys queen up, and I want to be able to. I don't know if anyone's had any success before with this.

[Ferox_Formicae]

The smaller Camponotus castneus colony's queen has laid two more eggs. The two more brood-boosted pupa are also right about to eclose, and should be eclosing within a few hours.

 

The Strumigenys membranifera and Strumigenys silvestrii are becoming more comfortable with each other, sitting right beside each other on the cotton wad, and I think this may be a sign of acceptance! It's definitely pretty neat seeing two different species of Strumigenys in entirely different species groups getting along.

 

The four queen Solenopsis invicta group has laid a batch of eggs. I think there are more eggs to come, but at the moment, they have about 30. I'm wondering if these queens will be polynous or just pleometrotic. Last time I had a group of Solenopsis invicta queens, a group of 10 that I ended up releasing because there was a mold problem, once they got their first workers all of the queens were still alive, so we'll see how this goes.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Almost there! Yet another Camponotus castaneus pupa in the larger colony has eclosed, leaving me with only one more non-biological pupa! The colony is doing very well so far, and I have high hopes for them.

 

The single-queen Temnothorax curvispinosus colony has a pretty good amount of brood, with a little more brood (mostly medium-sized larva) than workers. The colony should probably nearly double in population in around a month or so, and it looks like the queen has been laying more eggs. I'd say this colony will be at around 100 workers by the time I put them away for hibernation, probably sometime around mid-November, as ants hibernate a little later here in South Carolina.

 

I'm not exactly too sure why, but the queen of my Formica pallidefulva colony has lately been darkening quite a bit. At collection, she had an orange gaster, but over the past few weeks, it's turned nearly completely black. I'm not too worried about it, but I just figured I should point it out. If anyone has any suggestions. please do let me know.

 

I should hopefully be getting a new colony soon, as long as I can find them. Recently, I made the first ever record of Strumigenys silvestrii in South Carolina, which you've probably seen me talking about the few workers I collected earlier in this post. Well, I'm going back to their collection site and am going to attempt to capture the entire colony. I'm hoping I can pull this off, because as many of you know, mostly indicated by my updated logo, I absolutely adore Dacetines, and Strumigenys is the only North American Dacetine genera, which is okay because Strumigenys are some of the coolest ants you could possibly come across!

[ponerinecat]

Dacetines are cool, but basicerotini are bettter. They just don't live here. So dacetine and amblyoponinae willhave to do.

[Ferox_Formicae]

They're definitely pretty cool.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Woohoo! I caught a very large Strumigenys louisianae colony! looking at them and the last surviving Strumigenys silvestrii worker side-by-side, differences between the species are fairly conspicuous, conspicuous enough, to be able to tell species apart in the field. For one, Strumigenys louisianae is quite a bit larger and is a darker color, having a black gaster with the last tergite being lighter in coloration than the rest of the gaster. The gaster of Strumigenys silvestrii is uniformly tan-ish, the same coloration as the rest of the body. With a simple and lens, one can easily see that the modified hairs on the head of S. louisianae are much more conspicuous and expanded, while a microscope is needed to see the hairs on S. silvestrii's head.

The S. louisianae colony has around 150 worker, a decent amount of brood, mostly larva and one pupa, but no queen. I must have missed her during collection. Regardless, I will be keeping this colony throughout the rest of it's life span, which may last through hibernation if I'm lucky.

 

I moved the Hypoponera opacior queen into a cleaner test tube with a little less space, more roomy for her. Hopefully the more cramped, comfortable space will induce her to lay eggs. I'll also give her a pre-killed Dubia roach and see if she accepts it. She's definitely been thinning out quite a bit, which isn't good for a semi-claustral queen, or really any queen.

[Ferox_Formicae]

There is something very peculiar about one of the workers in the Strumigenys louisianae colony. She is larger, with a proportionally larger mesosoma. Her gaster is bigger too. I know there's definitely something different about her as I'm able to pick her out from the rest with only a fleeting glance through a hand lens. I'm thinking she could be an intercaste worker, but could she possibly be fertile?

[Ferox_Formicae]

After looking at the larger, more robust worker ant in the Strumigenys louisianae colony and after doing some research, it seems that there is a high likelihood that she is an ergatoid queen, a trait that has been found in other Strumigenys species, including other members of the Strumigenys louisianae-group. If she is an ergatoid queen, that that means I've made a new scientific discovery! Also the colony can continue to prosper!

[Ferox_Formicae]

All of the brood boosted workers in both of my Camponotus castaneus colonies have eclosed, making a total of 12 in the larger colony and 3 in the smaller one. I gave both colonies some honey and they seem to be enjoying it.

 

Due to me forgetting to water them, all of the workers in the Formica pallidefulva colony have died, leaving me with the single, dehydrated queen. If she's doing okay and back on her feet tomorrow, then I'll try to find some pupa to boost her with.

 

The Hypoponera opacior queen has sadly died, likely due to her not accepting any of the food I gave her.

 

I found a Strumigenys membranifera colony! The thing is, I didn't get the queen, so I tried to offer my other queen to them, but she died due to her not finding the water in time, so I'll just have to watch this colony and maybe even try to join it with another one.

 

The Strumigenys louisianae colony is doing very well, and I made a video of them. Watch it here:

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=BrKiCV6A5mY

[ponerinecat]

Strumigenys have always been my favorite ants.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Strumigenys have always been my favorite ants.

I love Strumigenys too, but truthfully, I prefer Daceton a bit more. For one they're highly polymorphic, which is always awesome to see in ants. They're smart, have huge eyes, are arboreal, can glide, and are really big. I just love Dacetines as a whole, but I love Daceton the most. There's a good chance I may be seeing them when I go to Ecuador my junior year, and if I can get a PPQ 526 permit by them, you know exactly the species of ant I'm bringing back with me.

[ponerinecat]

 

Strumigenys have always been my favorite ants.

I love Strumigenys too, but truthfully, I prefer Daceton a bit more. For one they're highly polymorphic, which is always awesome to see in ants. They're smart, have huge eyes, are arboreal, can glide, and are really big. I just love Dacetines as a whole, but I love Daceton the most. There's a good chance I may be seeing them when I go to Ecuador my junior year, and if I can get a PPQ 526 permit by them, you know exactly the species of ant I'm bringing back with me.

 

That would be amazing. The colors on orectognathus versicolor are great too, as well as being very polymorphic, I'm pretty sure the only trap jaws with majors.

[Ferox_Formicae]

I went back to the collection location of the Strumigenys silvestrii workers today, and after searching for over an hour and obtaining many RIFA stings, I finally found the colony! The colony has around 50 workers and about 5 queens, a fair amount of brood too. They are so much smaller than S. louisianae! I'm really glad to finally have this species, and that makes 3 species of Strumigenys in my collection. 25 species to go...

 

I collected a few new queens, Pseudomyrmex pallidus, an as of yet unidentified species of Crematogaster, and Brachymyrmex patagonicus.

 

One of the blood workers in the larger Camponotus castaneus colony has died, probably of old age.

 

The older Pheidole bicarinata queen has her first pupa!

 

The Formica pallidefulva queen has also died. 

[ANTdrew]

Any tips for finding Pheidole bicarinata queens after their flight? I'm obsessed with finding one next year.