10 replies to this topic

[yibsi]

Hello fellow ant keepers!
Yesterday and today have been amazing nuptial flight days and the first nuptial flight since I moved here to Illinois, I wanted to document all these colonies without having 7+ journals, so welcome to my journal!

Currently keeping

My very Numerous
Nylanderia parvula -
5 queen polygynous colony
2 single queen colonies

Camponotus Chromaiodes (previously herculeanus) -
1 queen, so far

These are all I’ve got currently from yesterday, however yesterday I found many more queens other than these two species, mainly all different nylanderia sp. however they were so small I let them go. I also saw what looked kind of like myrmica, however it ended up flying away. Either way today I’m going to go to my local park and look for more species.

In photo 1 we have the first three queens I caught of Nylanderia, which ended up becoming the 5 queen colony

In photo 2 we have all 5 of the Nylanderia queen colony, I decided to put the two Nylanderia queens I found that already broke their wings off in their own setup, just in case the others weren’t fertile.

Photo 3 is of one of the single Nylanderia queens I have, she seems like she also might be a different Nylanderia species as well because she’s slightly smaller than the others.

In photo 4, 5, and 6 we have the camponotus chromaiodes queen, I found two of these gals, however the other kept trying to fly, so I knew she wasn’t mated, this one however I found crawling on the ground and she didn’t try to fly at all, which is a good sign she’s mated.

See y’a in another post!

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Edited by yibsi, July 11 2021 - 9:50 AM.

[ANTdrew]

So cool. You’ll love those Nylanderia. You should get in on my Nylanderia Notebook thread: https://www.formicul...k/?fromsearch=1

[yibsi]

Slight update on how things are going, so normally I wait 1-2 weeks before checking on my queens, however I recently got a new heating cable and wanted to make sure they weren't frying, so I checked real quick on them (no photos because I wanted to stress them as little as possible), and the 5 queen nylanderia colony has a large batch of eggs, and the single nylanderia queens both have around one or two eggs each. The Camponotus queen hasn't layed, however she's not chewing at the cotton or trying to escape. That's about it for this mini update, the next update will most likely be on or around Memorial day and will include photos, just wanted to give this little update since I checked them is all.

[NickAnter]

Nice, looks like they are all doing well, aside from the restless Camopnotus.

 

And that Camponotus is most likely chromaiodes, BTW.

[yibsi]

Nice, looks like they are all doing well, aside from the restless Camopnotus.
 
And that Camponotus is most likely chromaiodes, BTW.

Yeah that’s what I was thinking, you’re right in saying that C. herculeanus is much less common out here in central Illinois, and she does look more like a C. Chromaiodes queen, I’ll edit the post.

[yibsi]

Update #2 5-30-21

My current colonies:

Nylanderia Parvula - 5 queen polygynous colony

Nylanderia sp. - 1 single colony
(gave the other single one to my friend)

Camponotus Chromaiodes - 1 queen


The 5 queen polygynous Nylanderia Parvula colony have been egg laying MACHINES. (Photos 1,2) Two out of the Five of the queens in the polygynous colony have bitten off their wings, one out of the three has bitten one wing off and still has the other (Photo 3). The remaining two still have their wings but I’m hopeful they are fertile. The queens seem to be grooming each other and not showing any aggression towards each other at all, so I’m hopeful they will be a successful polygynous colony. They have 2 big egg piles and the one main one looks like two that were combined together. If I had to put a guess on it I would say there is about 45 eggs, and that’s my lower estimate, either way I’m very happy with how this colony is doing!

The single Nylanderia queen I have has also layed lots of eggs and has a decent pile, (photo 4,5) I suspect she’s actually a different species of Nylanderia other than the Nylanderia parvula that the 5 queen colony is, because she is slightly smaller than the others and more reddish in color. So I’ve changed this one queen from Nylanderis Parvula to just Nylanderia sp.

The camponotus chromaiodes (photo 6,7) has layed zero eggs and I’m starting to suspect she’s infertile, as she hasn’t layed any eggs and still had her wings. I may release her soon if she doesn’t lay.

That’s about it!

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[yibsi]

Update #3 6-6-21

So since the last update I let the unmated camponotus chromaiodes queen go, however camponotus lovers do not fret, as I’ve since caught another camponotus queen! (Photo 1) she has removed her wings and currently has two eggs. I suspect she’s camponotus pennsylvanicus, the only problem though is that she’s only 14 - 15 mm, and I’ve read that camponotus pennsylvanicus queens are generally around 19 mm, if anyone knows more about this let me know.

The single queen Nylanderia sp has a few larvae and some more eggs, I took two photos of her, one on a white background so you can see her better and one on a black background so you can see her larvae better. (Photos 2 and 3)

The multi-queen Nylanderia Parvula is going good and have a large larvae and egg pile (Photo 4). Now three of the queens only have one wing left, one has no wings, and the last still has both wings. Everything is going good with these gals, however I noticed that some eggs were strewn about the bottom of the test tube (Photo 5) as well as some cotton, should I be worried about this? If so let me know.

Also, I know the photos I’ve been taking aren’t the best, so I ordered a macro camera, so the next update will have better in depth photos!

 

Edit: for some reason Formiculture rotated the last two photos, don't worry I'm not flipping my colonies upside down lol.

That’s about it, see y’a on another thread!

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Edited by yibsi, June 6 2021 - 10:01 AM.

[yibsi]

Update 4 6-12-21

I got a macro camera so the photo quality has improved greatly!!!!!!

Current Colonies:

Nylanderia parvula - 4 queen polygynous colony with MASSIVE egg piles - previously 5 queens

Tetramorium immigrans - 4 separate queens with eggs

Camponotus pennsylvanicus - good amount of eggs

Nylanderia sp. - nice brood pile


It’s been a week, so here are the colonies!

Firstly the 4 queen polygynous colony (photos 1,2,3, and 4),last update we saw that some eggs were scattered around the tube. This made me think that one of our 5 queens was infertile. Well to my great surprise today I checked and all of the eggs were neatly organized into GIANT piles. This made me very happy until I saw that one of the queens was dead. This dead queen had both her wings. This coupled with the fact that all the eggs are now organized since she has died leads me to believe she was the infertile one, well at least that problem has been sorted out.

Secondly I caught 4 tetramorium immigrans queens on Wednesday (6-9-21). I only photographed the best queen who has made the most progress (photos 5,6,7 and 8) (since I didn’t want to stress the others and I didn’t want this journal to be a bunch of tetra queens all at the same stage of development. I plan on only keeping the best performing queen and releasing the others or use their workers for a parasitic tetramorium atrulatum colony (New State Record!!!) since I recently found two deceased queens of them. You can find that discussion here: https://www.formicul...ntral-illinois/

Thirdly we have our 16 mm Camponotus pennsylvanicus, her size is a bit odd to me as I read that C. Pennsylvanicus queens are 19 mm. But who knows maybe this one is just tiny. (Photos 9,10,11, and 12) she has a decent amount of eggs, around 7 - 9 eggs, which is nice.

Lastly we have our one off Nylanderia sp. queen this one is smaller than the polygynous group so I suspect she is a different species, she’s so tiny that even with my macro lense she was hard to see. Here you can see her standing over her brood pile which kind of blends into the white/grayish background, (photo 13)

Well that’s it, see you all on another ant thread!

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[yibsi]

7-6-21

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while I got caught up with personal stuff since the last update. I’ve still been taking care of these gals, and even found some new ones. So I’ll catch everyone up to speed.

Currently keeping:
Nylanderia parvula - 4 queen polygynous colony
Tetramorium immigrans - 4 separate queens
Camponotus pennsylvanicus- 1 queen
Formica sp. (possibly pallidifulva?) 1 queen

Since the last update the single queen Nylanderia queen passed away, unknown cause, she left behind a few larvae. The tetramorium atratulum have also passed , check the other thread for more details on that.



In photos #1 and #2 we have the Nylanderia colony, they seem to be developing nicely as they have larva, a few eggs, and some developing workers, the larvae are looking pretty fat too.

In photos #3 and #4 we have one of the tetramorium queens, she has so many developing workers, they should emerge next time I check on them

In photo #5 we have our camponotus pennsylvanicus queen she has a few eggs, a REALLY fat larvae and a cocoon!!!! Can’t wait for these gals to develop!

Lastly in photos #6 #7 and #8 we have a new addition, a Formica sp. queen I found her crawling on a sidewalk right next to a forest, she’s dark brownish red, I’ve seen what I think are workers of this species crawling on the ground near forests before, not exactly sure on the species though.

We’ll see y’a on another thread!

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Edited by yibsi, July 6 2021 - 11:51 AM.

[Shazza]

Looking good, love the photos also. Especially keen to see how the camponotus progress. Keep the updates comming

[yibsi]

Update #6 7-11-21

Currently keeping

Nylanderia parvula 4 queen polygynous colony

Tetramorium immigrans

Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Formica pallidufulva

Tetramorium atratulum, separate journal - https://www.formicul...rkers/?p=190352

Welcome back to the 6th update to the journal! Firstly in photos 1,2 and 3 we have our Nylanderia parvula, they have developing workers and in photos 2 and 3 I zoomed in on one and you can see one of the workers eyes. I’ve noticed that these gals have iridescent wings, which I’m not sure N. parvula have, maybe they are a different species? These gals have also been developing slowly for some reason despite being heated, they’ve developed at roughly the same speed as my camponotus pennsylvnicus, which is odd for such a tiny species.

In photos 4, 5 and 6 we have our best performing tetramorium immigrans colony, she has her first nanetic! Her exoskeleton still needs to harden though and she has lots of siblings about to start walking around as well, so I’ll wait to feed them their first meal for a few days to let their exoskeletons harden a bit more, I’ll feed them honey as a first meal and then a few days after that I’ll feed a part of a freshly killed mealworm.

In photos 7, 8 and 9 we have our Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen, she has two cocoons with fecal pellets, which tells me they’ll hatch soon. The two eggs closest to the cocoons are actually tiny larvae, the rest are eggs. This camponotus queen has been my fastest developing camponotus colony ever, which might have to do with the fact that she is pretty small for Camponotus pennsylvanicus, since she is only 13 - 15 mm, most likely 14 mm, which from what I’ve read C. pennsylvanicus queens are supposed to be around 18 mm. If anyone knows anything about this let me know.

In photo 10 we have our newest addition, our Formica pallidifulva queen! She already has around 8 - 10 eggs! Boy are these gals fast, I saw about three of them the day I caught this queen but they were so fast I only managed to catch just her.

Well that’s about it, see y’a next week!

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