17 replies to this topic

[RushmoreAnts]

Introduction

 

So, this is my very first completely independent journal, which has no roots whatsoever to my previous all inclusive journal. This journal will feature my newly caught Tetramorium immigrans queen, and her progress. Updates will be frequent, much more so than my 'Camponotus Crusade', as this species grows extremely fast. 

 

 

_________________________________

 

 

 

Update #0001

 

Thursday, June 25th, 2020

 

 

Tetramorium immigrans

 

     So, Ants_Dakota and I were in my driveway talking about none other than Tetramorium. I've always suspected that Tetramorium tsushimae is present here, so I was talking to him about finding multiple queens and experimenting with polygyne. But then, lo and behold, a movement caught my eye. Turns out it was just what we were talking about, Tetramorium! I quickly made a test tube for her and placed her into darkness. 

 

     At first, she laid scattered eggs, which to me meant she was unmated. However, when I peeked in her tube this morning, her gaster was extremely large, and she had a nice pile of a couple dozen eggs. I know most of these are trophic and will be eaten, but I'm pretty sure most species have a general ratio of worker eggs to trophic eggs, so the more eggs she lays, the more workers. I'm hoping for ten or fifteen, but perhaps that's too lofty of a goal. 

 

     Anyways, here's some pics:

 

 

 

 

_________________________________

 

Additional Notes

 

No additional notes for this update.

Edited by AntsDakota, December 19 2020 - 7:50 AM.

[rcbuggy88]

Nice! It seems like keeping Tetramorium is making a comeback. My Tetras just got workers after exactly 3 weeks and about 1/2 of the eggs got eaten. Nice pictures and good luck!

[ANTdrew]

Good luck! I will follow this.

[Antkid12]

Nice! Tetras are fun to keep!

[RushmoreAnts]

Nice! It seems like keeping Tetramorium is making a comeback. My Tetras just got workers after exactly 3 weeks and about 1/2 of the eggs got eaten. Nice pictures and good luck!

Were yours heated? Mine are.

[rcbuggy88]

Mine were heated with a seedling heat mat only 15W. About 80 F so not significantly. The egg piles were pretty big to start with (too many to count individually. Also, they all see to develop at approximately the same time so they all kind of pupate at the same time. 

[to_be_announced]

How are your Tetras doing?

[RushmoreAnts]

Update # 0002

 

Tuesday, August 4th, 2020

 

 

 

Tetramorium tsushimae

 

It's been a long time since I updated this last! And a lot has happened too. So basically the founding stage went mostly smooth, yet one day I was outside with my Tetras and other colonies (I moved most of the colonies into the warm garage). She had pupae at this point. I was borned during quarantine, of course, and I had just came home with first of all a new Formica colony and secondly a queenless fragment of a Tetramorium tsushimae colony (the mothernest was HUGE, at least 10,000, while 20,000+ would not be far off, too many for a single queen alone to lay). I got several hundred workers, and several hundred pupae and callows. I ended up giving my queen around 50 pupae and callows, and fed some to my Solenopsis molesta colony (of which I have never mentioned on this forum, will have to make a journal sometime). The rest I did sort of forget about and they + workers died.   Anyways, the queen accepted them readily, and quickly laid a clump of her own eggs. They all developed, and I believe another batch has developed as well. It was at this point where I moved them from their original test tube to an AC Tetramorium Hybrid nest. They had around 150 workers, I did a general count while moving them. I thought since they were such an adaptable species they would take right to it, but they didn't like it and moved into the tube connecting the nest to their new outworld I gave them.   I mean, why am I surprised?  Anyways, I have some THA setups coming, and will probably just use one of them. They can stay in the tube for now. I mainly give them honey and mealworms, but have given them some different insects once and awhile, and thus have grown at their usual fast Tetra pace, tripling in size in just about a month. I don't believe the queen has laid any eggs since being moved (further supporting the notion that they don't like it one bit), but they have some larvae and pupae which should be workers in the next week or two, bringing the population past 200. 

 

Them in their test tube:

 

 

In the Hybrid Nest, before they decided to move into the tube:

 

 

 

Additional Notes

 

Now I realize many of you, especially the experienced and senior members of this forum, probably doubt my identification of T. tsushimae. However, I have carefully compared her with many immigrans queens, and she is at least 1 mm smaller than all of them. And the colony of her species from which I brood boosted her, as mentioned in the update, was much too large to be supported by one queen, even if it was Tetramorium. It was under a rock bigger than a pizza, another rock half its size adjacent to it, and the entire surface under the big rock and part of the smaller rock was completely smothered in thick clumps of brood. And they clearly had many chambers above it and branching off from the sides, all filled with brood. This indicates thousands and thousands of pupae and large larvae (not even including the eggs and small larvae, which weren't even present). In fact, the nest was so large that I had little hope of finding any queens, as they were clearly buried far down, and not even beneath the rock or surrounding chambers. This indicates that the colony had at least 10,000 workers and was growing beyond that, and I wouldn't be surprised if the colony exceeds 20,000. Anyways, this indicates polygyne in the colony, indicating the species Tetramorium tsushimae. Young workers also have the distinct light coloration of tsushimae, not present in immigrans colonies. 

[to_be_announced]

What type of THA setup are you going to put them in?

[Antkid12]

Nice colony!

[RushmoreAnts]

What type of THA setup are you going to put them in?

I'm going to use half of a Station. The new Formica colony mentioned in the update will be moved in the other side. 

[RushmoreAnts]

Update # 0002

 

Tuesday, August 4th, 2020

 

 

 

Tetramorium tsushimae

 

     Up until a month or so ago I do admit I had neglected this colony, and they had some major die-offs. Although now, after moving them into a test tube and feeding them passionately (and them eating passionately), they have made a comeback. They have around 50ish workers now, and the brood pile is in the dozens. I have high hopes for this colony yet, and plan to keep them on heat all winter long.

 

Here's a video of the colony now: https://imgur.com/vUWlpof

 

Additional Notes

 

    No additional notes for this update.

Edited by AntsDakota, December 19 2020 - 7:50 AM.

[AnthonyP163]

Update # 0002

 

Tuesday, August 4th, 2020

 

 

 

Tetramorium tsushimae

 

It's been a long time since I updated this last! And a lot has happened too. So basically the founding stage went mostly smooth, yet one day I was outside with my Tetras and other colonies (I moved most of the colonies into the warm garage). She had pupae at this point. I was borned during quarantine, of course, and I had just came home with first of all a new Formica colony and secondly a queenless fragment of a Tetramorium tsushimae colony (the mothernest was HUGE, at least 10,000, while 20,000+ would not be far off, too many for a single queen alone to lay). I got several hundred workers, and several hundred pupae and callows. I ended up giving my queen around 50 pupae and callows, and fed some to my Solenopsis molesta colony (of which I have never mentioned on this forum, will have to make a journal sometime). The rest I did sort of forget about and they + workers died.   Anyways, the queen accepted them readily, and quickly laid a clump of her own eggs. They all developed, and I believe another batch has developed as well. It was at this point where I moved them from their original test tube to an AC Tetramorium Hybrid nest. They had around 150 workers, I did a general count while moving them. I thought since they were such an adaptable species they would take right to it, but they didn't like it and moved into the tube connecting the nest to their new outworld I gave them.   I mean, why am I surprised?  Anyways, I have some THA setups coming, and will probably just use one of them. They can stay in the tube for now. I mainly give them honey and mealworms, but have given them some different insects once and awhile, and thus have grown at their usual fast Tetra pace, tripling in size in just about a month. I don't believe the queen has laid any eggs since being moved (further supporting the notion that they don't like it one bit), but they have some larvae and pupae which should be workers in the next week or two, bringing the population past 200. 

 

Them in their test tube:

 

 

In the Hybrid Nest, before they decided to move into the tube:

 

 

 

Additional Notes

 

Now I realize many of you, especially the experienced and senior members of this forum, probably doubt my identification of T. tsushimae. However, I have carefully compared her with many immigrans queens, and she is at least 1 mm smaller than all of them. And the colony of her species from which I brood boosted her, as mentioned in the update, was much too large to be supported by one queen, even if it was Tetramorium. It was under a rock bigger than a pizza, another rock half its size adjacent to it, and the entire surface under the big rock and part of the smaller rock was completely smothered in thick clumps of brood. And they clearly had many chambers above it and branching off from the sides, all filled with brood. This indicates thousands and thousands of pupae and large larvae (not even including the eggs and small larvae, which weren't even present). In fact, the nest was so large that I had little hope of finding any queens, as they were clearly buried far down, and not even beneath the rock or surrounding chambers. This indicates that the colony had at least 10,000 workers and was growing beyond that, and I wouldn't be surprised if the colony exceeds 20,000. Anyways, this indicates polygyne in the colony, indicating the species Tetramorium tsushimae. Young workers also have the distinct light coloration of tsushimae, not present in immigrans colonies. 

As you guessed, I am awfully skeptical of them being tsushimae.

 

I also caught a very small Tetramorium queen this season. Upon raising her to workers, some of the workers had lighter thoraxes, which indicated to me that she could be tsushimae. However, variation in size among queens is always going to happen, and as the colony grew, I realized that the lighter color was only in the nanitics. Even past 100 adult workers, the colony hadn't had more than the nanitics with orange thoraxes.

 

It is also notable that Tetramorium immigrans colonies can exceed well over 10-20,000 in worker count. My own captive colony was at least 10,000 workers. In the wild, they might do even better. I have taken footage of Tetramorium immigrans queens returning to their nests after mating during morning flights. This indicates that oligogyny is possible in Tetramorium immigrans colonies. This makes even polygyny a questionable indicator of species. 

 

From what I hear about tsushimae in St. Louis, they are extremely discernable from immigrans. The majority of the workers will have orange thoraxes and they dominate areas where they are. 

 

Of course, it's possible that your colony is tsushimae. I just don't think it is. Even what I believe could be tsushimae here in Wisconsin is questionable. 

 

Edited by AnthonyP163, December 19 2020 - 8:42 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

As you guessed, I am awfully skeptical of them being tsushimae.

 

 

 

I also caught a very small Tetramorium queen this season. Upon raising her to workers, some of the workers had lighter thoraxes, which indicated to me that she could be tsushimae. However, variation in size among queens is always going to happen, and as the colony grew, I realized that the lighter color was only in the nanitics. Even past 100 adult workers, the colony hadn't had more than the nanitics with orange thoraxes.

 

It is also notable that Tetramorium immigrans colonies can exceed well over 10-20,000 in worker count. My own captive colony was at least 10,000 workers. In the wild, they might do even better. I have taken footage of Tetramorium immigrans queens returning to their nests after mating during morning flights. This indicates that oligogyny is possible in Tetramorium immigrans colonies. This makes even polygyny a questionable indicator of species. 

 

From what I hear about tsushimae in St. Louis, they are extremely discernable from immigrans. The majority of the workers will have orange thoraxes and they dominate areas where they are. 

 

Of course, it's possible that your colony is tsushimae. I just don't think it is. Even what I believe could be tsushimae here in Wisconsin is questionable. 

 

 

As stated by BMM in his journal, https://www.formicul...l/?hl=tsushimae

 

"About Tetramorium tsushimae

 

This species is also known as the Japanese Pavement Ant. As the name would suggest, they're native to Japan and other temperate areas in East Asia. However, they've established a small foothold in the US, specifically the St. Louis area. It's thought that they were accidentally imported during the St. Louis World Fair in 1904. Since then they've displaced our common Pavement Ant, Tetramorium immigrans. A study from 2006 indicated that they were continuing to spread along the major highways out of St. Louis, expanding into central Missouri and southern Illinois. There are also reports of them appearing in other urban areas in the US, likely imported from St. Louis or abroad, but it's difficult to confirm due to their similarity to T. immigrans.

 

Differentiating T. tsushimae from T. immigrans isn't easy. There appears to be three observable differences. The easiest but least consistent difference is their coloration. Some colonies appear the have a notably lighter mesosoma. An example can be seen here. However, I've examined various colonies in the St. Louis area and have yet to find any with this coloration, so it may not be a very consistent indicator of the species. Photos of this species in their native range seems to show both variations. The second difference between the two species is their size. T. tsushimae workers tend to be between 2.5-3.0 mm and the queens are about 6.0-6.5 mm. In both cases this is a little bit smaller than T. immigrans. The third difference is that T. tsushimae is highly polygynous. In observing numerous different colonies, I've yet to find one that didn't have multiple queens. Simply flipping over a rock or disturbing a small mound often reveals at least two or three. This contrasts with T. immigrans colonies, which are usually described as monogynous past the founding stage. In order to feel more confident in differentiating the two species, I previously contacted Dr. James Trager and he suggested that T. tsushimae's limited range, smaller size, and polygynous nature are some of the best characteristics for an amateur identification. 

 

Because I live in the one part of the US where this species is common, I've taken some time to observe their behavior. On an individual level, they seem very similar to T. immigrans. However, there are some differences in overall colony behavior. As mentioned above, their colonies often contain many queens. I haven't confirmed whether all of the queens are fertile, but the ones found in the nest are all wingless and never travel outside. This leads me to believe that they are. Their colonies do have nuptial flights in the summer, around late June and early July. The flights seem to start once morning temperatures reach about 75-80°F. However, the term "flight" might be misleading. I spent several mornings watching their nest entrances and some of the queens leave already wingless. This makes me think that these queens have already mated in the nest, like some other polygynous species do. Once the queens leave the nest, they often fall victim to the workers of other colonies. Shortly after sunrise. it's easy to find large clumps of workers attacking queens on the sidewalks. However, the queens themselves don't seem to be aggressive towards one another. I've put up to five queens together and they never attacked each other. However, the survival rate among the queens I caught was quite low. About 75% of them died before the end of the year. The deaths appeared to be natural. Interestingly, all of the winged queens I caught died."

 

It is common knowledge that tsushimae have established a dominant presence in Missouri. Note BMM's quote " I've examined various colonies in the St. Louis area and have yet to find any with this coloration, so it may not be a very consistent indicator of the species." And it is also common knowledge that coloration is definitely not a good indicator of species, I've heard that time and time again. I have also noticed two different sizes of Tetramorium in my area (and I'm good enough at identifying to determine that neither is Pheidole, and are indeed Tetramorium), the smaller one being dominant, as BMM stated. Also pretty much all workers in the colony had the lighter thorax as callows, yet when they hardened they were all black. The coloration is not as pronounced as in classic tsushimae, but it's present nonetheless. To my knowledge and experience immigrans callows are either purely light or purely dark when they harden, no in-betweens. 

[AnthonyP163]

 

As you guessed, I am awfully skeptical of them being tsushimae.

 

 

 

I also caught a very small Tetramorium queen this season. Upon raising her to workers, some of the workers had lighter thoraxes, which indicated to me that she could be tsushimae. However, variation in size among queens is always going to happen, and as the colony grew, I realized that the lighter color was only in the nanitics. Even past 100 adult workers, the colony hadn't had more than the nanitics with orange thoraxes.

 

It is also notable that Tetramorium immigrans colonies can exceed well over 10-20,000 in worker count. My own captive colony was at least 10,000 workers. In the wild, they might do even better. I have taken footage of Tetramorium immigrans queens returning to their nests after mating during morning flights. This indicates that oligogyny is possible in Tetramorium immigrans colonies. This makes even polygyny a questionable indicator of species. 

 

From what I hear about tsushimae in St. Louis, they are extremely discernable from immigrans. The majority of the workers will have orange thoraxes and they dominate areas where they are. 

 

Of course, it's possible that your colony is tsushimae. I just don't think it is. Even what I believe could be tsushimae here in Wisconsin is questionable. 

 

 

As stated by BMM in his journal, https://www.formicul...l/?hl=tsushimae

 

"About Tetramorium tsushimae

 

This species is also known as the Japanese Pavement Ant. As the name would suggest, they're native to Japan and other temperate areas in East Asia. However, they've established a small foothold in the US, specifically the St. Louis area. It's thought that they were accidentally imported during the St. Louis World Fair in 1904. Since then they've displaced our common Pavement Ant, Tetramorium immigrans. A study from 2006 indicated that they were continuing to spread along the major highways out of St. Louis, expanding into central Missouri and southern Illinois. There are also reports of them appearing in other urban areas in the US, likely imported from St. Louis or abroad, but it's difficult to confirm due to their similarity to T. immigrans.

 

Differentiating T. tsushimae from T. immigrans isn't easy. There appears to be three observable differences. The easiest but least consistent difference is their coloration. Some colonies appear the have a notably lighter mesosoma. An example can be seen here. However, I've examined various colonies in the St. Louis area and have yet to find any with this coloration, so it may not be a very consistent indicator of the species. Photos of this species in their native range seems to show both variations. The second difference between the two species is their size. T. tsushimae workers tend to be between 2.5-3.0 mm and the queens are about 6.0-6.5 mm. In both cases this is a little bit smaller than T. immigrans. The third difference is that T. tsushimae is highly polygynous. In observing numerous different colonies, I've yet to find one that didn't have multiple queens. Simply flipping over a rock or disturbing a small mound often reveals at least two or three. This contrasts with T. immigrans colonies, which are usually described as monogynous past the founding stage. In order to feel more confident in differentiating the two species, I previously contacted Dr. James Trager and he suggested that T. tsushimae's limited range, smaller size, and polygynous nature are some of the best characteristics for an amateur identification. 

 

Because I live in the one part of the US where this species is common, I've taken some time to observe their behavior. On an individual level, they seem very similar to T. immigrans. However, there are some differences in overall colony behavior. As mentioned above, their colonies often contain many queens. I haven't confirmed whether all of the queens are fertile, but the ones found in the nest are all wingless and never travel outside. This leads me to believe that they are. Their colonies do have nuptial flights in the summer, around late June and early July. The flights seem to start once morning temperatures reach about 75-80°F. However, the term "flight" might be misleading. I spent several mornings watching their nest entrances and some of the queens leave already wingless. This makes me think that these queens have already mated in the nest, like some other polygynous species do. Once the queens leave the nest, they often fall victim to the workers of other colonies. Shortly after sunrise. it's easy to find large clumps of workers attacking queens on the sidewalks. However, the queens themselves don't seem to be aggressive towards one another. I've put up to five queens together and they never attacked each other. However, the survival rate among the queens I caught was quite low. About 75% of them died before the end of the year. The deaths appeared to be natural. Interestingly, all of the winged queens I caught died."

 

It is common knowledge that tsushimae have established a dominant presence in Missouri. Note BMM's quote " I've examined various colonies in the St. Louis area and have yet to find any with this coloration, so it may not be a very consistent indicator of the species." And it is also common knowledge that coloration is definitely not a good indicator of species, I've heard that time and time again. I have also noticed two different sizes of Tetramorium in my area (and I'm good enough at identifying to determine that neither is Pheidole, and are indeed Tetramorium), the smaller one being dominant, as BMM stated. Also pretty much all workers in the colony had the lighter thorax as callows, yet when they hardened they were all black. The coloration is not as pronounced as in classic tsushimae, but it's present nonetheless. To my knowledge and experience immigrans callows are either purely light or purely dark when they harden, no in-betweens. 

 

BMM likely is seeing Tetramorium immigrans when he discusses that he doesn't see many colonies with the orange coloration. Quite simply, there is not a dark variant of tsushimae. Though yes, in general, color is not a good indicator of species, it's one of the few slightly reliable features that can assist discerning these two species. 

 

It is common knowledge that tsushimae are spreading. I too have found smaller Tetramorium workers. I even once dug up a colony and found their queen. However, they weren't tsushimae, they were all jet black. It's also important to note that tsushimae didn't arrive in 1904. If my memory suits me, they were first noted in St. Louis in 1981. 

 

So far, your reasoning for your colony to be tsushimae is that the queen is about a millimeter smaller than other queens. This is not reliable, especially when you haven't seen ants around you where the majority of them have lighter thoraxes. Size cannot be consistently reliable because it can vary from individual to individual and colony to colony. Habitat effects size. In forests/fields, immigrans have smaller workers, likely because they aren't getting as much food. The only convincing way to identify tsushimae that I see as valid is if the majority of the individuals in a healthy colony have lighter thoraxes. 

 

Sure, you could have tsushimae in South Dakota, but I'm unconvinced that this queen is tsushimae. 

[RushmoreAnts]

 

     Up until a month or so ago I do admit I had neglected this colony, and they had some major die-offs. Although now, after moving them into a test tube and feeding them passionately (and them eating passionately), they have made a comeback. They have around 50ish workers now, and the brood pile is in the dozens. I have high hopes for this colony yet, and plan to keep them on heat all winter long.

 

 

 

 

Update # 0005

 

Saturday, April 17th, 2021

 

Tetramorium immigrans

 

Yeah, ok. I've accepted the fact that this is probably immigrans at this point, but beyond that I am pretty satisfied about what this colony has accomplished. Since the last update, they have sprung back with incredible rapidity, just like Tetras usually do, and now have at least 200 workers, all of which are the queen's biological offspring. The queen is laying a new generation of eggs once every three weeks or so, each generation containing 50-100 workers each. Their current generation of brood has close to 100 pupae, which will push the population past 300. They should reach 500 workers by their first birthday, in June, which is an OK amount for their species, I suppose. Anyways, its enough to make me happy, and I estimate by their second year their numbers will be in the thousands. 

 

I moved them into my Palladium I used to use for my Pogonomyrmex, I moved them out quite a while back. Here's a video of the colony: https://imgur.com/XIFdJbo

Edited by AntsDakota, April 17 2021 - 6:49 AM.

[ANTdrew]

What happened to the Pogonomyrmex?

[RushmoreAnts]

What happened to the Pogonomyrmex?

I will disclose that in my journal, which I will update on Monday, for reasons I will give then.