8-26-2013
 
I caught about 25 of these Crematogaster queens on August 26th 2013, in the Mojave Desert, in Southern California. I captured these using a black light during their nuptial flight, so most all of them had their wings still.
 
Original ID thread: https://www.formicul...l=crematogaster
 

 

 

 
 
I actually ran out of test tubes, and had to start putting some of these in the little plastic containers I carry with me when I'm out anting. I keep a small wet piece of cotton in each to keep them hydrated.

Update 8-27-2013

 

Four of these queens dropped their wings while I was at work today.

Update 9-7-2013

 

Five of these queens have died already. A lot of them have started laying eggs, and even some of the ones being kept in the plastic containers have too. So far only two of them I can say for sure are fertile; they have way more brood than any of the others, and the brood is clearly developing. One of these fertile queens has dropped its wings, and the other hasn't.

Update 9-21-2013

 

Quite a few more of these queens have died now, and still only two of them show any real signs of being fertile. I now only have them in test tubes, no more of the plastic containers. The two fertile queens both have a pretty decent sized pile of brood containing some pupae now. There is one other queen that looks like it has a developing larva, but all it has is that one larva, and about two eggs.

Update 9-28-2013
 
I'm now down to 14 queens. The fertile queen without wings now has three nanitics. The one with wings has pupae that is probably within days of eclosing.
 
Here's the dealate queen with her first three nanitic workers. Don't they almost look like cartoon characters?
 

 

 

 

 

OMG. SO CUTE. The first picture is awesome. LOVING the interactions. Mama queen with baby worker .

Update 9-29-2013

 

Both queens have six workers each now.

Update 12-7-2013
 
Both colonies are now up to about 40 workers each, and both have well over a hundred brood. One colony I have placed into a foraging container.
 
One thing I noticed about Crematogaster and a few of the other genera of ants I keep, is they like to chew their food into almost a dust, and then keep it stored neatly in a little pile.
 
You can see their little pile of food here.
 

 
 
The colony with the foraging container actually closed off the end of their test tube using pieces of cotton and other debris, to raise the humidity and/or to make the nest feel more secure I assume.
 

 
 
Since their test tube was getting a little low on water like a lot of the test tubes that are now opened up and sitting in foraging containers, I fixed up a new one for them and placed it in the container next to the current one.
 

 
 
I put a cork in the end of this one with a small hole drilled in it, to hopefully slow the rate of evaporation down a bit, and to make a more secure nest for them this time.
 

 

 

 
 
I guess we'll see how long it takes for them to move into the new tube.

I put a piece of Angel Food cake soaked in a little humming bird nectar into their container and now it looks like they have used that to rebuild their little wall at the entrance of their test tube.
 

Didn't you tell them not to play with their food? 

Update 2-28-2014

 

Something happened to the largest colony, the one kept in the foraging container. For some reason tons of workers died off and now they are down to only about 25 workers. They all finally moved into the new test tube I put in there for them after the old one dried out completely. The test tube colony is still doing fine, with about the same amount of workers it had before.

Update 3-18-2014

 

The larger colony that had a lot of workers die, is now all the way down to seven workers. I took their test tube out of the foraging container since they're too small to even need it now. They do still have a pretty big pile of small larvae though. The other colony was sold to someone.

Update?

I've never seen this species before

Update 10-21-2014

 

This one remaining colony has dwindled down to just one worker and a few eggs.

Update 12-26-2014

 

This queen finally died with one worker left behind.

one word:

 

sad