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Manitobant's Polyergus mexicanus queen journal (discontinued)

Started By Manitobant , Jul 30 2020 12:45 PM

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61 replies to this topic

#1 Offline Manitobant - Posted July 30 2020 - 12:45 PM

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I caught a polyergus mexicanus queen on july 28th, 2020. She is currently in a test tube with 2 formica subsericea callows and some brood. I hope to successfully found her so i don't have to find another colony next spring for my experiments.




Edited by Manitobant, July 2 2023 - 6:40 PM.

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My journals:

Polyergus Mexicanus: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry175528
Lasius minutus: https://www.formicul...cs/#entry174811
Lasius latipes: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry206449
General acanthomyops journal: https://www.formicul...yops-with-eggs/

#2 Offline Vendayn - Posted July 30 2020 - 1:17 PM

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They look really cool :) And don't see Polyergus in captivity very often (and I don't recall seeing a journal about them in the past, but might have missed it). I hope you see success with them. They are an awesome species.


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#3 Offline Antkid12 - Posted July 30 2020 - 1:39 PM

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Nice!


Ants I have: Tapinoma sessile(2 queen colony). RED MORPH Camponotus neacticus(now has pupae!), Tetramorium immigrans (x3), Aphaenogaster sp, Temnothorax sp, Brachymyrmex sp.   possibly infertile   :(,  Ponera pennsylvanica, and Pheidole morrisi!  :yahoo: 

 

Other insects: Polistes sp. Queen

                    

Ants I need: Pheidole sp., Trachymyrmex sp., Crematogaster cerasi , Dorymyrmex sp. Most wanted: Pheidole morrisii

 

                    

                   

 

 

#4 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted July 30 2020 - 1:40 PM

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There may have been one or two journals, but I can't recall their names right off hand. I think they ended poorly, though. 


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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#5 Offline Manitobant - Posted August 4 2020 - 1:04 PM

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Sadly this queen died after drowing in sugar water.

Luckiky i got a second queen, which will be known as queen #2. Queen #2 has been given callows and has been put in a bamboo tube setup. So far she is doing much better than queen #1.
  • CatsnAnts likes this
My journals:

Polyergus Mexicanus: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry175528
Lasius minutus: https://www.formicul...cs/#entry174811
Lasius latipes: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry206449
General acanthomyops journal: https://www.formicul...yops-with-eggs/

#6 Offline Manitobant - Posted August 4 2020 - 5:32 PM

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I went hunting again today and caught 2 more queens. These two have been placed in test tube setups with callows.
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My journals:

Polyergus Mexicanus: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry175528
Lasius minutus: https://www.formicul...cs/#entry174811
Lasius latipes: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry206449
General acanthomyops journal: https://www.formicul...yops-with-eggs/

#7 Offline Manitobant - Posted September 8 2020 - 9:00 AM

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I caught a few more of these queens this year, but they all died because i didn't feed them in time since I was away the day after i caught them. This is one of the problems with raising polyergus, as you actually need to wait for the callows to harden and be accepted by the queen before you feed them since the queens cannot feed themselves.



Queen #2, however, is doing great. She has around 10 hosts plus about 5 pupae waiting to eclose. When they do, i will put them into hibernation.
  • RushmoreAnts and TechAnt like this
My journals:

Polyergus Mexicanus: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry175528
Lasius minutus: https://www.formicul...cs/#entry174811
Lasius latipes: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry206449
General acanthomyops journal: https://www.formicul...yops-with-eggs/

#8 Offline TechAnt - Posted September 8 2020 - 9:11 AM

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Great! Any photos?


My Ants:
(x1) Campontous semitstaceus ~20 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Camponotus vicinus ~10 workers, 1 Queen (all black variety)
(x1) Tetramorium immigrans ~100 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Myrmercocystus mexicanus -1 Queen
(x2) Mymercocystus mimcus -1 Queen
(x1) Mymercocystus testaceus ~45 workers, 1 Queen

#9 Offline Manitobant - Posted September 11 2020 - 9:55 AM

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Ill try to get some later
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My journals:

Polyergus Mexicanus: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry175528
Lasius minutus: https://www.formicul...cs/#entry174811
Lasius latipes: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry206449
General acanthomyops journal: https://www.formicul...yops-with-eggs/

#10 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted September 11 2020 - 10:17 AM

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I did find one of these queens a couple years ago, but unfortunately all Formica were hibernating at that time (it was late in the season).
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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#11 Offline Manitobant - Posted September 23 2020 - 2:20 PM

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I put this colony into hibernation today. I will wake them up in January and i hope they make it!


Here is a pic i took: https://www.formicul...exicanus-queen/
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My journals:

Polyergus Mexicanus: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry175528
Lasius minutus: https://www.formicul...cs/#entry174811
Lasius latipes: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry206449
General acanthomyops journal: https://www.formicul...yops-with-eggs/

#12 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted September 23 2020 - 4:15 PM

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Good luck!


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My Main Journal | My Neivamyrmex Journal | My Ant Adoption | My YouTube

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#13 Offline Manitobant - Posted September 23 2020 - 4:29 PM

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I know someone has beat me to founding this species (and north American polyergus in general) so there won't be any records broken. However i do hope to succeed!
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My journals:

Polyergus Mexicanus: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry175528
Lasius minutus: https://www.formicul...cs/#entry174811
Lasius latipes: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry206449
General acanthomyops journal: https://www.formicul...yops-with-eggs/

#14 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted September 23 2020 - 4:32 PM

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I know someone has beat me to founding this species (and north American polyergus in general) so there won't be any records broken. However i do hope to succeed!

Well, I haven't seen anything on here about keeping Polyergus yet, so you could be the first on FC.


My Main Journal | My Neivamyrmex Journal | My Ant Adoption | My YouTube

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#15 Offline KitsAntVa - Posted September 24 2020 - 9:03 AM

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Wait so these can actually take brood from a diffrent species and be totally ok?


We don’t talk about that

#16 Offline Manitobant - Posted September 24 2020 - 9:30 AM

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Yeah they steal them to raise as slaves.
My journals:

Polyergus Mexicanus: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry175528
Lasius minutus: https://www.formicul...cs/#entry174811
Lasius latipes: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry206449
General acanthomyops journal: https://www.formicul...yops-with-eggs/

#17 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted September 24 2020 - 12:35 PM

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Wait so these can actually take brood from a diffrent species and be totally ok?

That's exactly what they do. They specialize in raiding Formica species.


#18 Offline Manitobant - Posted December 27 2020 - 4:23 PM

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I took the colony out of hibernation today, and there surprisingly wasn't any casualties. Now we wait for eggs.
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My journals:

Polyergus Mexicanus: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry175528
Lasius minutus: https://www.formicul...cs/#entry174811
Lasius latipes: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry206449
General acanthomyops journal: https://www.formicul...yops-with-eggs/

#19 Offline Manitobant - Posted January 14 2021 - 3:34 PM

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update january 14th, 2021: EGGS!!!!

 

 

today i checked up on the colony and found one of the workers holding a small clutch of eggs. the colony happily took some fruit flies and sugar water as well. everything should be smooth sailing from here.

 

 

 

Polyergus with eggs 1
Polyergus with eggs 2

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My journals:

Polyergus Mexicanus: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry175528
Lasius minutus: https://www.formicul...cs/#entry174811
Lasius latipes: https://www.formicul...gs/#entry206449
General acanthomyops journal: https://www.formicul...yops-with-eggs/

#20 Offline NickAnter - Posted January 14 2021 - 3:38 PM

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2 days later.....

 

Queen dies.....


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Hi there! I went on a 6 month or so hiatus, in part due, and in part cause of the death of my colonies. 

However, I went back to the Sierras, and restarted my collection, which is now as follows:

Aphaenogaster uinta, Camponotus vicinus, Camponotus modoc, Formica cf. aserva, Formica cf. micropthalma, Formica cf. manni, Formica subpolita, Formica cf. subaenescens, Lasius americanus, Manica invidia, Pogonomyrmex salinus, Pogonomyrmex sp. 1, Solenopsis validiuscula, & Solenopsis sp. 3 (new Sierra variant). 

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