85 replies to this topic

[Ernteameise]

I always find the size differences between the different castes of Carebara amazing!

[Leo]

19/07/2024

 

Paratopula bauhinia - 8mm

Tubs and tubes

1 Queen, ~30 workers

 

Quick update! There may still be hope for the Paratopula bauhinia colony. I recently spotted a single dealate queen buried under a pile of workers, and there are some small larvae. I think the dealate I found dead may have been one of the many alates which died, and lost its wings due to rot or some other factor. Either way, praying that the dealate is indeed the original queen and that the colony may live on

 

Strumigenys mitis - ~1.3mm

Tube of soil

? Queens, ? workers

 

Consider this a bit of a last update of sorts on this species, as I have transferred the entire colony into one of my terrariums. I see workers wandering the surface very now and again, but I do not plan on digging this colony up, and they can subsist off of the springtails living in the terrarium (it doubles as an isopod culture, and bits of fruit and food are supplied regularly to help the springtails grow faster).

[Leo]

9/9/2024

 

Update time! Yay! 

So recently, university has started up again and I have been faced with the reailty that I had too many colonies to care for (in conjunction with a plethora of other pets and inverts), as such I think I will distill my colony count to a more manageable level, and only collect ant species which I am really interested in keeping.

 

As such, there are a few colonies that will no longer appear in this journal:

1. Paratopula bauhinia: Returned to their original owner, Demoant

2. Carebara affinis: Sold

3. Strumigenys feae: Colony slowly petered out. I do not believe the queen ever laid an egg, possibly a consequence of her near-death experiences.

4. Carebara lignata: Queen died in founding chamber

5. Ooceraea biroi (3 colonies will probably be going): I will keep 1 colony, but I do not see the point in having 4+ colonies, might as well share them with others

 

So what do I want to keep? For starters, I am quite fond of all non-army ant dorylinae, and there are quite a few species in Hong Kong (and China) which I may look into acquiring. Locally, I can find the following genera: Lioponera, Ooceraea, Syscia?, Parasyscia, Cerapachys. Other genera I maybe interested in are any strange or cryptic Ponerinae (Centromyrmex, Myopias. Buniapone e.t.c), any species from the subfamily Leptanillae, and maybe some Amblyoponinae. Other small and cryptid species will also be gladly kept, but larger ants such as Camponotus will probably be avoided.

 

 

Polyrhachis cf. confusa - 7mm

Tubs and tubes

1 Queen, 8 workers

 

This species has been on its road to recovery, and currently number at ~10 workers. I see a small batch of larvae and some eggs, but otherwise, development is slow. 

 

Clean portrait of a worker. This species resembles Polyrhachis hunggeuk and Polyrhachis moesta somewhat

 

 

 

A few unremarkable species 

Ponera cf. sinensis? and Brachyponera chinensis

 

Neither of these colonies are terribly interesting. The Brachyponera don't actually have a queen, and were collected for their brood. The Ponera do have a reproductive, but were captured for a similar purpose to the Brachyponera. I have never actually kept Ponera before, and will keep them for a while to see if there is any interesting behaviour to note.

 

Brachyponera chinensis, also helping test out whether my plaster-concrete nests have any problems.

 

Ponera sp worker

 

 

Strumigenys cf. exilirhina- 1.5mm

Small plaster nest

1 Queen, 13 workers

 

Growing slowly but steadily, one of the twin colonies was given off to Demoant, which you can find in his journal (https://www.formicul...2/#entry243957)but the remaining colony is doing just fine. I did run out of springtails for a few weeks, so the brood is only just starting to recover.

 

Queen bottom right in the nest

 

double team!

 

 

Temnothorax haveni - ~3mm

Test tube

1 queen, 2 workers

 

So apparently, this is 1 of the 2 species of Temnothorax found in Hong Kong, which I had mistaken as some strange Monomorium. However, a closer look at both the queen and workers reveal that this is actually the very recently described Temnothorax haveni (Hamer et. al, 2023) which was only formally given a name in 2023! Currently, this colony is developing at a slow, slow pace, with 2 workers, 1 larvae, and 2 eggs. 

 

 

 

 

Now onto the more oddball species...

 

Syscia cf. typhlus - ~3mm

Test tube setup

1 Queen, 7 workers

 

This species was purchased quite recently from mainland China, and was sold as "Syscia sp", but is likely just S.typhlus. They have accepted all manners of small larvae, but have not laid any eggs yet. 

 

Ooceraea biroi worker

 

in comparison to

 

Syscia cf. typhlus worker

 

 

Lioponera cf. suscitata

Test tube with clay

2 Queens, ~9 workers

 

Another colony purchased from China, this species has been subsisting primarily off of Polyrhachis and Aneoplolepis larvae I pillage from outside colonies. I am unaware of how much (if any) brood they have, as they are all huddled atop a pile of Polyrhachis larvae in the very clay-covered section of their test tube. However, there have been 0 deaths thus far, which is wonderful. This species is quite different from any Lioponera I can find locally, as all local Lioponera (as far as I am aware) are arboreal, whereas this species appears to be predominantly terrestrial (it maybe useful to note that Ito et al. (2018) collected a colony from a fallen branch, which may suggest some form of arboreal lifestyle). 

 

Imagine a fancier Cerapachys.... (Polyrhachis pupae)

 

 

 

References:

 

Hamer, Matthew T., et al. “First Record of the Genus Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) in Hong Kong, with Descriptions of Two New Species.” European Journal of Taxonomy, vol. 879, 12 July 2023, doi:10.5852/ejt.2023.879.2165. 

 

Ito, FUMINORI, et al. “Colony Composition, Brood Production and Caste Dimorphism in Two Species of the Doryline Genus Lioponera in the Oriental Tropics (Formicidae: Dorylinae).” Asian Myrmecology, Aug. 2018, doi:0.20362/am.010007. 

Edited by Leo, September 9 2024 - 8:50 PM.

[Leo]

Bonus image:

 

The colony of Crematogaster which escpaed and killed at least 2 of my colonies.

 

quite pretty though

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

Bonus image:

 

The colony of Crematogaster which escpaed and killed at least 2 of my colonies.

 

quite pretty though

Wait? Escaped and killed two of your colonies? What colonies did they kill?

[Leo]

 

Bonus image:

 

The colony of Crematogaster which escpaed and killed at least 2 of my colonies.

 

quite pretty though

Wait? Escaped and killed two of your colonies? What colonies did they kill?

 

 

Pristomyrmex brevispinosus, Myrmoteras binghamii, Anochetus graeffei