53 replies to this topic

[ttt]

Its interesting how the neivamyrmex are able to outmaneuver the larger tetramorium. Not an expert on ant combat but I'd expect the more robust tetramorium to have an edge one v one but the neivamyrmex negate this with maneuverability and numbers

[ponerinecat]

Its interesting how the neivamyrmex are able to outmaneuver the larger tetramorium. Not an expert on ant combat but I'd expect the more robust tetramorium to have an edge one v one but the neivamyrmex negate this with maneuverability and numbers

It's more of just numbers and armor. No real evasion in ants, they just grapple. Dorylines are basically all heavily plated, an adaptation for ant raiding.

[CheetoLord02]

 

Its interesting how the neivamyrmex are able to outmaneuver the larger tetramorium. Not an expert on ant combat but I'd expect the more robust tetramorium to have an edge one v one but the neivamyrmex negate this with maneuverability and numbers

It's more of just numbers and armor. No real evasion in ants, they just grapple. Dorylines are basically all heavily plated, an adaptation for ant raiding.

 

Speed was also a factor. The Tetramorium struggled to grab any Neivamyrmex at all, as they were just too fast to handle. Then again, Tetramorium were never great fighters to begin with. It'll be interesting to see how these guys fare against Solenopsis in the future.

[ttt]

 

 

Its interesting how the neivamyrmex are able to outmaneuver the larger tetramorium. Not an expert on ant combat but I'd expect the more robust tetramorium to have an edge one v one but the neivamyrmex negate this with maneuverability and numbers

It's more of just numbers and armor. No real evasion in ants, they just grapple. Dorylines are basically all heavily plated, an adaptation for ant raiding.

 

Speed was also a factor. The Tetramorium struggled to grab any Neivamyrmex at all, as they were just too fast to handle. Then again, Tetramorium were never great fighters to begin with. It'll be interesting to see how these guys fare against Solenopsis in the future.

 

Yea, I notice that the tetras near me are just slow brawlers especially with their famous pavement battles. Argentines are able to take food much faster than they do, but can't really attack colonies since the tetras just clump up and form a "shield wall" to ward them off

[Antkid12]

Nice video!

[Manitobant]

You identified them as opacithorax? I agree tbh

[CheetoLord02]

You identified them as opacithorax? I agree tbh

I'm not 100% certain, but it definitely seems to be the closest match. I still need to look at them under a microscope to be sure, but I think calling them opacithorax for now is a safe bet.

[TheAntGuy]

I think it is a good thing that more people are attempting to understand what they require to thrive, as this could not only help us figure out a solution to keep them long term, but also help us understand how wild colonies could be impacted by things like invasive ants. I think nievamyrmex are just the next step in the process for antkeeping where they are found. Manitobant makes a good argument imo

[CheetoLord02]

WE HAVE EGGS!

For the last day or so, the queen has been absolutely stuffing herself full of T. immigrans brood, and getting pretty physogastric. I knew the eggs were bound to come any day, so needless to say I was very glad to open the setup and see a few hundred eggs bunched up against one of the walls. Considering the queen is hardly physogastric at all compared to what I've seen from Neivamyrmex queens, I'd imagine I've still got thousands of eggs to be expecting. Either way, I'm still very surprised that everything with this colony seems... normal. Really nothing outside of what I'd expect has been happening. They just seem to be going through their normal processes like nothing happened.

Here's a quick update video, showing the eggs and queen:

[TennesseeAnts]

She will balloon up to a size at which she will be nearly incapable of movement, so I've seen with my colonies.

[Manitobant]

Now comes the easy part of keeping them. They will not need to move nests or will not need as much food for about the next 2 and a half weeks.

[TennesseeAnts]

Now comes the easy part of keeping them. They will not need to move nests or will not need as much food for about the next 2 and a half weeks.

Sounds about accurate.

[CheetoLord02]

As of a few days ago, some of the pupae have started to gain some pigmentation. As of today, some of the pupae are starting to look like they may be eclosed by tomorrow. I'm definitely excited to start seeing Neivamyrmex callows. The colony will probably be close to doubling in size after this generation of pupae ecloses, which is definitely going to be cool to see.
 

In other news, despite having quite a lot of eggs (probably several thousand at this point), the queen never ballooned up to a huge size like expected, despite the massive feeding they got at the end of their nomadic phase. It makes me optimistically theorize that this is perhaps a younger queen, and she just mated this season. It's definitely plausible, as I caught her right after some Neivamyrmex flights. I even caught a male of a different species a few weeks prior, although in a different area. A buddy of mine even caught a Neivamyrmex opacithorax male just a few days after I caught this colony! Either way, here's hoping I've got my hands on a young queen and not one that's closer to being on her way out.
 

[Manitobant]

A young queen may actually be worse as they need to mate multiple times over a few month period in order to become fully fertile. Its not like other ants where they have to mate once.

[CheetoLord02]

A few major updates for this colony here, so I'll just go ahead and get right into it!

As of 9/18, the first callows began eclosing in the colony. The queen is still laying eggs, from what I can tell. I had mentioned before that the current batch of pupae will probably cause the colony to nearly double in size, which is exciting.
 

The next night, 9/19, while I was feeding my ants, I noticed my Monomorium viridum colony was escaping their Mini Hearth. They were trailing to another Mini Hearth, that of my young Pogonomyrmex barbatus colony. The Monomorium had massacred them. I've had issues with this Monomorium colony for a while now, but this was the last straw. I used my aspirator to remove their queen, some brood, and a few hundred workers from the nest. This left well over 1,000 pieces of brood and upwards of 2,500 workers that needed to be rid of. Since my Neivamyrmex were coming out of their stationary phase (most of the pupae have eclosed at this point), I decided it was probably time for them to start raiding again. I figured it would be better to put the workers I was culling to use rather than just freezing them. I know that sacrificing a native species may be controversial, but I had to do something to control this colony's population. They were getting out of control. I documented the raid on video, so go ahead and have a watch if you'd like:



After the raid, their nest was full of the bodies of the Monomorium and their pillaged brood. They have relocated to one of the dirt nests from the THA Labyrinth, to my surprise, since they should theoretically still be in their stationary phase. Either way, this is what the spoils of war look like for Neivamyrmex.
 

[Manitobant]

Once all the callows eclose and the eggs turn into small larvae, the nomadic phase will truly begin.

[Antkeeper014]

Monomorium got what they deserved

[CheetoLord02]

As of just today, the colony's nomadic phase has begun again. I'm seeing tons of small larvae, and while there are still a lot of callows, all of the pupae have eclosed. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes the callows to fully harden, though. They have moved back to the labyrinth, which conveniently seems to be their favorite nest. I have also hooked up a Mini hearth for them to use if they see fit. Their bivouacs really don't take up much space since they're able to compress so easily, so honestly a singular mini hearth is more than enough to hold them. I can also always hook up a second one if need be, since they're modular. I did clean out the labyrinth after they had moved, so I shouldn't have to worry about that. I also confirmed the queen is still with us, which was nice, since they've been buried in dirt for over a week now.
 

It's definitely a little tricky to see, but if you look closely you can tell that we do in fact have larvae again in the colony.
 

[CheetoLord02]

Well this an is awkward update.

The colony... escaped. Yeah.

I have no idea how it happened. A few days prior they had a minor escape, but it was from a poor-fitting vinyl tube that I quickly fixed. The gap would have been too small for the queen to fit through, and I quickly just used my aspirator and collected all the escapees. I had noticed originally because they had made a few trails to explore parts of my room, and it was very noticeable.

Well, fast forwards a few days later, and this is what happened. I had checked on them originally when I got home from work, around 10:45pm, and everything was fine. Then, before I went to sleep at around 2:30 or 3:00am, the entire setup was vacated. I dumped out both dirt setups in case they were hiding in there, but they were not. I have no idea how they managed to totally sneak away. Their last breakout was super obvious, I have no idea how I missed this one. I also have no idea how they managed to escape the setup in the first place. I checked and checked again for a breakout point, but nothing seemed like a potential point of escape. Another thing is that I would have expected them to raid some of my other colonies, but nope. They just packed their bags and left quietly in the middle of the night. I have a hunch that they left through a crack in my wall and made their way outside somewhere.

I'm really sad that it had to end this way. I was sure I had their setup on lockdown, especially after the first escape, but clearly not. Either way, I am satisfied with this run. I believe that the ants did well in my care, and I'd like to believe that they would have continued to do well had they not escaped. I even had friends betting that the queen would never lay another egg in my care, and as I documented that wasn't the case. I think if I ever get lucky enough to keep this genus again I'm going to give them a far larger setup with a few other changes. Unfortunately I'm a bit limited on space in my current living situation, so I tried to make do with what I have.

[Manitobant]

I'm really starting to think escaping might actually be the main issue with these guys.