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[UtahAnts]

Utah Ants' Ant Keeping Journal

 

-Discontinued as of 7/12/23-

 

Colonies being featured as of 4/21/2023:

See offshoot journals for continued Cematogaster, Camponotus, Pogonomyrmex and Formica entries.

 

• Myrmecocystus mexicanus

 

 

I'm going to make a journal for all my colonies and a few queens, I'll start off with one of my largest:

 

I captured this colony about a year ago in a dead log. They had 13 workers and lots of larvae, the eggs and pupae eluded me unfortunately. This colony may have had multiple queens or been polydomous even with it's small numbers. The last time I checked the spot I captured them, workers were still foraging. I know its not common for multi-queen Temnothorax colony's to occur in the wild but those foragers and the missing pupea/eggs (where the queen usually resides), deep under ground made me suspicious.  Since capture they had about 50 larvae they had a population boom this last summer and have a large number of small larvae for next year. These ants grow very slowly (1.5 months) and they love any heat applied to them. I'm going to try heating them regularly in the summer. This colony also has pretty good eyesight and they are comparatively large to other temnothorax species. They eat mainly grubs such as mealworms among other things. Its fascinating to watch them eat because they bore small holes into the exoskeleton of the grub and hollow it out with multiple workers working at once inside it. 

Right now this colony is in hibernation and I plan to keep them this way for at least 2 months. I will update when I take them out and feed them.

 

*This was the first wood formicarium I'd ever made and I made it in a hurry so that's why it looks like a piece of trash, at least they seem to like it...

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Edited by UtahAnts, July 14 2024 - 3:02 PM.

[ZTYguy]

Insert thumbs up gif.

[NickAnter]

Can you get a close up picture of the queen?? Might be able to help with an ID.

[TennesseeAnts]

Polygyne Temnothorax colonies are actually very common. T. curvispinosus are even capable of merging their colonies.

[TennesseeAnts]

Can you get a close up picture of the queen?? Might be able to help with an ID.

Yeah, that would help a lot.

[UtahAnts]

Polygyne Temnothorax colonies are actually very common. T. curvispinosus are even capable of merging their colonies.

Interesting, I didn't know that. I'll have to check that spot again I guess.

Can you get a close up picture of the queen?? Might be able to help with an ID.

I'm going to try to find a macro lens for better pictures, I'm using an old iphone 7 for these. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[TennesseeAnts]

 

Polygyne Temnothorax colonies are actually very common. T. curvispinosus are even capable of merging their colonies.

Interesting, I didn't know that. I'll have to check that spot again I guess.

Can you get a close up picture of the queen?? Might be able to help with an ID.

I'm going to try to find a macro lens for better pictures, I'm using an old iphone 7 for these. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Lots of light, not too much zoom, and hold the phone about 2.5-3 inches away from the specimens.

[UtahAnts]

I was looking closer and I found at least 3 extra large larvae! Possibly reproductives? The queen and workers body's are strikingly similar to T. Longispinosus, but they are much redder/browner in color and don't have very pronounced spines at the end of their thorax.

Edited by AntsUtah, January 4 2021 - 7:12 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

I was looking closer and I found at least 3 extra large larvae! Possibly reproductives? The queen and workers body's are strikingly similar to T. Longispinosus, but they are much redder/browner in color and don't have very pronounced spines at the end of their thorax.

T. longispinosus was named for their long propodeal spines, so you can rule them out. Can't really do much else without better pics, unfortunately. 

[UtahAnts]

I have more downtime these days and I'm going to start journaling my other species and colonies. Does anyone know how to change the title? Preferably to  "AU's Ant Keeping Journal".  Thanks for any help.

Edited by AntsUtah, February 1 2021 - 7:43 PM.

[NickAnter]

Click, "edit" on the first post, and then, "full editor". If on mobile, the last step is not necessary.

[UtahAnts]

Update #1

 

Colonies In Hibernation:

 

• Formica cf. Rufa: 4 workers, this queen was caught in july/june, but due to bad chemicals and silica from unwashed firebrick formicariums, all the brood and 5 workers died. They are now in a plaster and sand nest.
• Temnothorax: (above)
• Camponotus cf. Modoc Queen
• Camponotus Hyatti (x2) Both of these colonies doing great with thirteen workers and larvae. 
• Formica Fusca: Queen

Colonies out of Hibernation:

 

• Tetramorium Immigrans: 4 workers. This colony was the last of my tetra stock. I sold all the other (9) colonies which were much larger. They were sold to mainly novices though, so these girls were probably the lucky survivors.
• Crematogaster cf. cerasi: 4 workers, lots of larvae, late start due to the same problem with the Formica, the unwashed firebrick formicariums. 
• 1 Queen, had a great last year with about 11 nanitics, then they all died too... you guessed it firebrick! Queen still living though, so not a complete loss.
• Lasius queen

Looking forward to more updates, now that I know that firebrick is toxic when unwashed, I'm looking forward to some large colonies this year. I'll try to update every couple weeks or so.

 

-thanks

[UtahAnts]

Can anyone ID this species of Temnothorax? I finally got a suitable microscope. Head and thorax is red, abdomen is a darkish brown. Workers 2mm-4mm, queen around 6 or 7 mm. To keep the live worker on the slide I used a small circle of olive oil to keep it in one spot which worked surprisingly well for ants that can walk over Vaseline. 

 

A minor update 2/28/2021:

All the colonies are out of hibernation except for the Formica and unidentified Camponotus colonies. All my queens except for the Formica rufa have larvae! Looking forward to the next few months

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[UtahAnts]

Update #3: 3/12/21

 

All of the colonies are out of hibernation and growing nicely, this week I'm going to focus on my Temnothorax colony and my Camponotus.

 

Camponotus Modoc Queen: A nice batch of about 10 small larvae and one large,

Camponotus Hyatti: 12 workers and about 15 larvae, moved into a fresh test-tube recently.

Unidentified Camponotus Colony: Similar to the Hyatti colony, but the queen is smaller and they grow faster and fly later in the season. Have 12 workers and about 15 larvae and also moved into a new tube yesterday. They are third and second to last picture, any help identifying them would be nice.

Temnothorax Nevadensis: This colony looks like they are going to jump in population this year. The formicarium is covered in larvae and small eggs. Last I counted they were at 150 workers, with more than that in larvae. Does anyone else have a large temnothorax colony on this forum?, I'd love to hear about it

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[UtahAnts]

Update #4:

 

Here's a quick update on my small colonies of Formica and Crematogaster:

 

Formica rufa: I moved these girls into a new mini hearth recently, after waiting for them do do it for quite a while. They have 4 workers, and a nice pile of larvae.

Formica Fusca: Single Queen, recently laid a batch of eggs as soon as I warmed her tube up, this is my first fusca queen, so I'm hoping she makes it.

Crematogaster cerasi: I fixed their formicarium this week with some perfect cast and hot glue, far from perfect but it'll hold them. The plaster had been degrading from the inside from water, just goes to show that you shouldn't put plaster in direct contact with water if you want it to last more then a couple of months. They have 3 workers, soon to be 8 or 9 with the new pupae.

The single queen I also have is doing fine, she's about to have her 1st second generation worker 

Lasius neoniger: This queen has 1 fat larvae, and a pile of eggs. She's in a genesis test tube setup, and it works great and I like the idea of it, but it is hard to constantly close the gap between the insert and the cotton as the cotton retreats farther into the tube. I stopped pushing it, and now the queen lives in the gap 

 

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[UtahAnts]

Update #5:  We got Pupae!!!

 

Temnothorax Nevadensis: Most of the larvae have pupated and formed large piles of larger Temnothorax workers. The queen has a nice pile of about 50 eggs under her, I can already tell this year is going to be a good one! I feed them a full cricket and/or mealworm every 2 days, and they have a constant supply to honey water and a water test-tube. 

Camponotus Hyatti Colonie #1 and 2: Most of the larvae have reached there maximum size although some are still growing, this next (3rd) generation is going to be larger than the previous by a long shot. The smaller larvea have pupated, and I expect the oldest to eclose in a week!

Camponitus modoc: This queen has a nice pile of large larvae and one, much larger larvae that could possibly be a median nanitic. She hungrily accepted some honey water this week, the first in several weeks, but I could not take pictures of her in fear of disturbing the Formica queen next to her which eats brood easily.

 

 

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[UtahAnts]

Update #6

 

Just a quick update with some of the fastest growing colonies:

 

 

Cremataogaster cerasi: This colony is starting to grow exponentially, 2 weeks ago they were at four workers, then 1 week ago 10, now 20, and a new batch of eggs is clearly visible every few days.

 

 

Temnothorax nevadensis: All the pupae in the previous post pupated and the colony is now estimated to be more then 100 strong. Around 10 large larvae are visible, most likley elates. I don't know if temnothrax elates can mate in the nest, but I hope to find out

 

 

Monomorium minimum: I have to admit, this colony was not started from a single queen, rather it is multiple colonies brought together. In my experience, Monomorium minimum is capable of merging colonies with ease. And because this species is very prevalant and somewhat invasive in my area, I have decided to make good use of them. By relocating half of each colony I find into this super colony, I hope to slow the spread of this species in my area. Anyways, this colony has more then 10 queens and a couple hundred workers. The modular petri-dish formicariums I have setup for them work very well, and in my opinion work better then testubes. The only problem is condensation for such small ants, but casualties are minimal, and much less then testube setups.

 

 

Camponotus Modoc: After a long hibernaiton, the modoc queen finally had her first nanitic as seen below, there's also a good 4 pupae in their mini hearth as well, can't wait to document their growth, and I'd love to hear about any tips or tricks with this species.

 

 

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Edited by AntsUtah, April 18 2021 - 5:21 PM.

[NicholasP]

Nice!

[mantisgal]

Wow so many beautiful babies! I wish your colonies continued success!

[ANTdrew]

Nice work! Why would you want to slow a native Monomorium? They seem to coexist well with other species and fly under the radar by nature.