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Polyacanthus' Temnothorax

Started By Polyacanthus , Jul 15 2021 7:20 PM
temnothorax

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#1 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted July 15 2021 - 7:20 PM

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Splitting this off from my original combined journal located here: https://www.formicul...hus-ant-journal. I feel like I have too many species now to make any sense of it.

This queen landed on my knee while I layed on my bed reading the forum on July 4. Must've hitched a ride in the house on the dog! Identified in the ID forum as Temnothorax sp. I've never seen one of these before and barely knew about Temnothorax. But I think I know where it came from, I have seen a colony from time to time of the tiniest orange ants I've ever seen in a sidewalk crack near my back patio.

IMG_20210704_015705480~2_resize_16.jpg

She appeared to have an egg on the 7th, and checking on her tonight it looks like she has 4 eggs. Hoping she is fertile!

IMG_20210715_224007299~2_resize_97.jpg

Edited by Polyacanthus, July 15 2021 - 7:29 PM.

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#2 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 16 2021 - 2:49 AM

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Good luck. I think you could have a lot of fun making setups for these ants, plus they wouldn’t take up much space.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#3 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted July 20 2021 - 7:29 PM

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She is up to 8 eggs. Is she fertile? Hoping to see larvae soon, it's been almost two weeks since the first egg.

IMG_20210720_223734651~2_resize_38.jpg

#4 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted July 25 2021 - 12:30 PM

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I could be mistaken but I believe she has larvae now. I can't tell with the naked eye so the best view I have is with my macro lens that clips on my phone.

IMG_20210724_111059964~2_resize_78.jpg
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#5 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted July 25 2021 - 4:54 PM

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Definitely larvae. Congrats!

#6 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 26 2021 - 5:04 AM

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Nice!
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#7 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted July 26 2021 - 8:26 AM

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Thanks, it looked like it but I couldn't quite tell if it was an optical illusion or not. I got another pic last night that is more definitive:

IMG_20210725_220712919~2_resize_70.jpg

Also, I was washing the car last night just before dusk, and when I reached down to dump my bucket out I saw a Temnothorax queen right there next to the bucket trying to pull her wings off! So I went looking around and found three more queens. I will put them together in another colony.
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#8 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted August 6 2021 - 9:03 PM

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If I'm not mistaken it looks like we have a pupa already.

IMG_20210806_234208331~2_resize_65.jpg
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#9 Offline smares - Posted August 6 2021 - 9:55 PM

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Amazing you spotted this tiny queen!
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#10 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted August 7 2021 - 6:52 AM

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She actually landed on my knee! I felt something I assumed was a mosquito so I almost smacked it, but I looked down first and realized it was a tiny queen! First time I had ever seen one.

Edited by Polyacanthus, August 7 2021 - 6:52 AM.

#11 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted August 21 2021 - 8:56 PM

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She has a worker and 5 larvae. I gave them a dot of sugar water yesterday and a fruit fly today.

IMG_20210821_224559771~2_resize_83.jpg
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#12 Offline Polyacanthus - Posted April 14 2022 - 7:29 PM

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Sadly, she didn't make it. Last fall she had a couple workers who died before winter, and she didn't make it through diapause. There are mites in there, I assume from the fruit fly. I'll have to be more careful. At least I know they're around here and I'll hunt for more this year.
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#13 Offline ANTS_KL - Posted April 14 2022 - 9:28 PM

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Sadly, she didn't make it. Last fall she had a couple workers who died before winter, and she didn't make it through diapause. There are mites in there, I assume from the fruit fly. I'll have to be more careful. At least I know they're around here and I'll hunt for more this year.

Good luck finding them again. They were so cute...


Young ant keeper with a decent amount of knowledge on local ant species.

YouTube: https://m.youtube.co...uKsahGliSH7EqOQ (It's pretty dead. Might upload again soon, don't expect my voice to sound the same though.)

Currently kept ant species, favorites have a star in front of their names (NOT in alphabetical order, also may be outdated sometimes): ★ Camponotus irritans inferior, ★ Ooceraea biroi, Pheidole parva, ★ Nylanderia sp., ★ Paraparatrechina tapinomoides, Platythyrea sp., Anochetus sp., Colobopsis sp. (cylindrica group), ★ Crematogaster ferrarii, Polyrhachis (Myrma) cf. pruinosa, Polyrhachis (Cyrtomyrma) laevissima, Tapinoma sp. (formerly Zatapinoma)

Death count: Probably over a hundred individual queens and colonies by now. I cannot recall whatsoever.

#14 Offline ANTdrew - Posted April 15 2022 - 2:13 AM

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Put up a blacklight trap, and you’ll find hundreds.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.
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