27 replies to this topic

[Formicoidea]

Way back when, on September 29th I was lucky enough to capture a small Rhytidoponera queen.

I have no clue as to her species, but regardless she is very pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

I just recently checked up on her... She's laid an egg!

This Journal may be a tad preemptive, lets hope not. 

 

Edited by Formicoidea, December 9 2019 - 6:54 PM.

[Formicoidea]

It's been quite a while.

Today i did a pretty major update to my Rhytidoponera queen's test tube set up. (this queen plus some Rhytidoponera Metalica)

 

So, firstly i got a few of small plastic containers, and i melted a hole into the side. 

I also bought some red film and i wrapped it around the test tubes, hopefully to allow me too see their progress while making them think they are in the dark. 

I added some sand into the test tube, Rhytidoponera have a lot of difficulty of walking on glass so this should make it easier for them to move around.

After all this, i connected the test tube to the container will blue tack, and added a small part of a paper straw into the cotton, allowing the queens to have more constricted exit/entrance. 

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Keep the updates coming. We’re counting on ya’ll Southern Hemisphere folks to have interesting reading at this point.

[TennesseeAnts]

Keep the updates coming. We’re counting on ya’ll Southern Hemisphere folks to have interesting reading at this point.

My Camponotus and Crematogaster colonies are still going! No matter what I do, they won't hibernate. They just keep producing. My Camponotus nearcticus colony has been non-stop producing since April, and has 32 full sized workers, including two full sized majors! There's still plenty of eggs, larvae and pupae to make it to 50 this year. My ants aspire to be tropical species.

[NickAnter]

Also us that live in SoCal!

[ANTdrew]

Also us that live in SoCal!

Yup! You lucky people, too.

[Formicoidea]

3/11/19:

Yesterday i noticed a lot of little flying insects around the house.

I had the bright idea of catching a bunch of them to feed to my semi-claustral queens.

First i gave two really small ones to my Rhytidoponera Sp. queen. (the one this journal is supposed to be about.)

i came back an hour or so later and she had dragged them into the test-tube.

That night a large number of them had come inside, attracted to the lights on in my room.

So i gave about three to each of my Rhytidoponera queens. I hand fed one of the Rhytidoponera Metalica that was near the entrance, and the other Metalica queen came out to chomp its bugs.

Come this morning all of the bugs were dragged inside and some of them torn to shreds. I pulled back the red film of each queen, to see if i could get a look at the brood. I couldn't see any in the test-tubes. I have made is pretty difficult for myself as the substrate is a yellowish white, but i am a bit concerned.

Nothing to do but wait it out.

This morning i fed them a bunch more, some of which has already been consumed.

[ANTdrew]

We just had first frost here in Virginia. Still counting on you southern hemisphere folks for interesting ant reading. Keep the updates coming.

[Formicoidea]

We just had first frost here in Virginia. Still counting on you southern hemisphere folks for interesting ant reading. Keep the updates coming.

 

  I'm not the most reliable, but i will certainly try to keep up the reading material! 

[Formicoidea]

So just a quick little update.

 

The little Rhytidoponera sp. queen is worrying me a bit.

She doesn't seem to have any brood (the Metalica queens sometimes seem to have some) the only "proof" i've seen is her jaws being slightly open, i don't even know if she is carrying an egg when i see this.

 

Another problem is that she seems able to see through the red film, and she is very aware of vibrations. Me moving the lid of her outworld around is enough to set her off.

 

So?

I have stuck her in a sock. Hopefully that will reduce the light/vibrations, and i'm just not going to touch her. For a week. Or more. (Which is very difficult for me. Poor ants).

[Formicoidea]

Despite my guaranty, it's the 19th of November over here. 15 days after the last update.

I've checked the Rhytidoponera sp only once or twice, i still can't see anything but i have resolved to patience.

The distressing thing is the developments today.
So i decided to feed all my ants today. With what food source? Flies.
They were there and i thought. Hey, that could work.
After i put them all in i noticed that all the flies had maggots in them. (I am assuming they were the flies larvae, if they were parasites though... I think i might just jump out a window.)
This would not be a problem for something like my Iridomyrmex, whose workers are just slightly larger.
I do however feel that is becomes more problematic whith the larger ants, as it get to a point (I assume) where the queens will just ignore them, or they will be too small to deal with.

As such i am really worried that they will kill the Rhytidoponera Metalica's brood. Or possibly even the queen herself. I have no idea if i am over-reacting or not.

[NickAnter]

They will probably be fine.  On a side note, as there are multiple Rhytidoponera species that are being logged, the "sp." should be changed to  "spp." to indicate multiple species.  If you really wanted, you could block the test tubes to prevent the fly maggots from getting in.

[Formicoidea]

They will probably be fine.  On a side note, as there are multiple Rhytidoponera species that are being logged, the "sp." should be changed to  "spp." to indicate multiple species.  If you really wanted, you could block the test tubes to prevent the fly maggots from getting in.

 

Lets hope so. The maggots don't seem able to move through the sand that i added, as such they just wriggle around, get covered by sand and die. This setup where it is a problem the queen must've pulled the maggots in.

 

For this journal I have two Rhytidoponera Metalica queens and one unknown, as such the "sp." is just the one unknown species queen.

[Formicoidea]

So.

In checking for any maggots in my Rhytidoponera sp. test-tube i saw eggs.

I really had to look hard, but they were there, which is great.

Hopefully she didn't just lay them yesterday, and me checking up on her causes her to eat them.

[Formicoidea]

Hey, cool thing.

 

I was looking around for any idea on what my new queens were and i found something interesting.

 

Looking on google images (most reliable source ever ) i found a picture which reminded me of my Rhytidoponera Sp. queen.

So i think i've found out what species it is.

 

Austroponera rufonigra

 

Not only is it a different genus, its a different subfamily

They are pretty similar though.

[Kaelwizard]

Nvm

Edited by Kaelwizard, November 23 2019 - 2:16 PM.

[Formicoidea]

I'm back, which means update time!

 

sooo, lots has happened over the time i was away.

most noticeably is my Rhytidoponera Metallica queens.

one queen had 2 pupae and a bunch of larvae! the other has no pupae but a few big larvae. The cocoons are much smaller than the queens, which is strange, especially since semi-claustral queens are often similar sized to their workers. Nanitics?

Here is a photo of the cocoons + queen.

 

In other news my Austoponera queen is doing well. She doesn't seem to have larvae yet, but she now has a very nice clutch of eggs.

 

 

they do look a little yellow, I'm not sure if that means they will be hatching into larvae soon?

regardless it is a step forward, I'm happy to wait for workers.

[ponerinecat]

I'm back, which means update time!

 

sooo, lots has happened over the time i was away.

most noticeably is my Rhytidoponera Metallica queens.

one queen had 2 pupae and a bunch of larvae! the other has no pupae but a few big larvae. The cocoons are much smaller than the queens, which is strange, especially since semi-claustral queens are often similar sized to their workers. Nanitics?

Here is a photo of the cocoons + queen.

 

In other news my Austoponera queen is doing well. She doesn't seem to have larvae yet, but she now has a very nice clutch of eggs.

 

 

they do look a little yellow, I'm not sure if that means they will be hatching into larvae soon?

regardless it is a step forward, I'm happy to wait for workers.

That is not austroponera. Its a rhytid.

[Antennal_Scrobe]

I think it's probably R. victoriae.

[Formicoidea]

That is not austroponera. Its a rhytid.

 

 

I think it's probably R. victoriae.

Thanks for pointing this out guys.

Looks like i was just too eager to get that species Id.

Rhytidoponera victoriae does look like a closer match, especially in respect to mandible shape.