8 replies to this topic

[Ant_KeeperSeb09]

I caught a queen very close to a forest and I'm 100% sure it's temnothorax, if anyone has tips on how to keep temnothorax, would be apreciated

[CatsnAnts]

They are fairly simple to keep. Most colonies don’t exceed the low hundreds, and they aren’t picky either. Just put her in a regular test tube (I keep my single queens in a 16mm, but 13mm should work better if you have them). As for formicarium options later on, you can either leave them in the test tube or create a small formicarium. I feed mine honey and mealworms and they do just fine.

[RushmoreAnts]

They're also highly polygynous if you find more queens.

[CatsnAnts]

They're also highly polygynous if you find more queens.

That’s debatable. Most likely they will get along just fine, but they still have the tendency to kill of a queen here and there. Temnothorax ambiguus, for example, is known to be pleometric (although it’s probably because of limited resources, which isn’t a problem in captivity), one of my queens in my 8 queen colony has her antennae ripped of before being killed. My fifteen queen T. curvispinosus colony has now had three queens dismembered. If you start a colony, only introduce new queens for around three days after you put the original queens in the test tube, or else they will fight.

Edited by CatsnAnts, July 29 2020 - 1:05 PM.

[RushmoreAnts]

They're also highly polygynous if you find more queens.

That’s debatable. Most likely they will get along just fine, but they still have the tendency to kill of a queen here and there. Temnothorax ambiguus, for example, is known to be pleometric (although it’s probably because of limited resources, which isn’t a problem in captivity), one of my queens in my 8 queen colony has her antennae ripped of before being killed. My fifteen queen T. curvispinosus colony has now had three queens dismembered. If you start a colony, only introduce new queens for around three days after you put the original queens in the test tube, or else they will fight.

Polygynous species will kill queens if there are too many, but 1-5 is ideal for a small colony. Any more probably will be dismembered, as you mentioned..........

[Kaelwizard]

Wild Temnothorx colonies almost always have 1 queen. At least all of the species I have read about. Also, all T. longispinosus colonies I have found have had 1 queen.

[ponerinecat]

They're also highly polygynous if you find more queens.

Not really... I believe they have the potential to be, but it seems like its usually more limited to pleometris. Like kael mentioned, pretty much all the wild temnothorax I've observed have been monogynous. Whether they were solitarily founded or secondarily monogynous is unknown to me.

[Kaelwizard]

They're also highly polygynous if you find more queens.

Not really... I believe they have the potential to be, but it seems like its usually more limited to pleometris. Like kael mentioned, pretty much all the wild temnothorax I've observed have been monogynous. Whether they were solitarily founded or secondarily monogynous is unknown to me.

I believe T. longispinosus exhibit pleometrosis, secondary monogyny, secondary polygyny and founding solitarily. That’s at least what I interpreted from its page on AntWiki.

[Ant_KeeperSeb09]

 

They're also highly polygynous if you find more queens.

That’s debatable. Most likely they will get along just fine, but they still have the tendency to kill of a queen here and there. Temnothorax ambiguus, for example, is known to be pleometric (although it’s probably because of limited resources, which isn’t a problem in captivity), one of my queens in my 8 queen colony has her antennae ripped of before being killed. My fifteen queen T. curvispinosus colony has now had three queens dismembered. If you start a colony, only introduce new queens for around three days after you put the original queens in the test tube, or else they will fight.

 

Thanks for the information

Thanks to everyone for this preciouse information