41 replies to this topic

[Mettcollsuss]

Tsushimae is in New England?

Probably, the issue is tsushimae is largely identical to immigrans at a glance. Even under a microscope its hard to tell them apart, look at this key for example. At the moment, I believe the only ways to confidently tell the two apart are DNA testing and immigrans being monogynous vs tsushimae being polygynous. Because of that, it's hard to track their spread across North America. Tsushimae seems more tied to urban areas than immigrans though, and since New England has a few decently large cities its very possible that tsushimae has already arrived.

Edited by Mettcollsuss, April 14 2022 - 11:56 AM.

[Chickalo]

 

Tsushimae is in New England?

Probably, the issue is tsushimae is largely identical to immigrans at a glance. Even under a microscope its hard to tell them apart, look at this key for example. At the moment, I believe the only ways to confidently tell the two apart are DNA testing and immigrans being monogynous vs tsushimae being polygynous. Because of that, it's hard to track their spread across North America. Tsushimae seems more tied to urban areas than immigrans though, and since New England has a few decently large cities its very possible that tsushimae has already arrived.

 

So the easiest way to distinguish the two is to put multiple queens together during founding to see if they're polygynous or the other type I can't remember what it's called but the temporary polygynous founding

[azzaaazzzz00]

Well if they turned out to be Monogyne wouldn't you be losing queens?

[OiledOlives]

Oh no, not a loss of a couple immigrans queens!

[lazyant]

Colobopsis etiola derpy af ants

 

af= as formica

[Mettcollsuss]

Well if they turned out to be Monogyne wouldn't you be losing queens?

Yes, but it also gives the colony a larger starting population. If you're like me and find more Tetra queens than you have room for, its an effective way to get rid of extras and make sure each colony you found has a boosted population from the start.

[azzaaazzzz00]

Yea that makes sense, I don't find tetra queens that often so I wouldn't be able to doan expierement like that anyways.

[ColAnt735]

Its time for favorite species of ant(s) drum roll please! Polyrhachis cyaniventris. Blue rip offs of weaver ants? Yes please! I also like Crematogaster cerasi because they are just fun and look amazing.

Edited by ColAnt735, April 18 2022 - 6:44 PM.

[antgallery]

my favorite ants are  atta texana neoponera villosa Pheidole dentata Pheidole pilifera Pheidole rhea  Linepithema humile, 

Linepithema humile?

Edited by antgallery, April 19 2022 - 2:04 PM.

[Mettcollsuss]

Its time for favorite species of ant(s) drum roll please! Polyrachis cyaniventris. Blue rip offs of weaver ants? Yes please! I also like Crematogaster cerasi because they are just fun and look amazing.

Oh, yeah, Polyrhachis are awesome. So many cool looking species.

[PaigeX]

Favourite Genus: Polyrhachis.

Favourite sp of Polyrhachis: Polyrhachis ammon, however Polyrhachis rufifemur is getting closer to the same level of love.

 

Other Favourites: Myrmecia chrysogaster, Dolichoderus scrobiculatus, Colobopsis macrocephala, Polyrhachis vermiculosa, Polyrhachis daemeli, Polyrhachis hookeri and Cardiocondyla sp.

[ANTS_KL]

Its time for favorite species of ant(s) drum roll please! Polyrachis cyaniventris. Blue rip offs of weaver ants? Yes please! I also like Crematogaster cerasi because they are just fun and look amazing.

Oecophylla and Meranoplus are better!   There was that one Polyrhachis sp. that looked like Diacamma. Pretty cool. Still unsure if that was mimicry or not.

[SYUTEO]

 

Its time for favorite species of ant(s) drum roll please! Polyrachis cyaniventris. Blue rip offs of weaver ants? Yes please! I also like Crematogaster cerasi because they are just fun and look amazing.

Oecophylla and Meranoplus are better!   There was that one Polyrhachis sp. that looked like Diacamma. Pretty cool. Still unsure if that was mimicry or not.

 

Meranoplus are very stubborn movers tho...

[RushmoreAnts]

Well if they turned out to be Monogyne wouldn't you be losing queens?

The term you were thinking of is pleometrophic. Queens wouldn't die right away, just in the late founding stages or after they get workers.

[Mettcollsuss]

Well if they turned out to be Monogyne wouldn't you be losing queens?

The term you were thinking of is pleometrophic. Queens wouldn't die right away, just in the late founding stages or after they get workers.

Pleometrosis gets misused a lot in the antkeeping community. The actual term for what you're thinking of is secondary monogyny.

Haplometrosis: colony founded by 1 queen
Pleometrosis: colony founded by 2+ queens
Primary monogyny: colony starts with 1 queen and never gets any more
Secondary monogyny: colony starts with 2+ queens, extras are killed off until 1 remains
Primary polygyny: Colony starts with 2+ queens and keeps them
Secondary polygyny: Colony starts with 1 queen but later adds extras

[RushmoreAnts]

 

 

Well if they turned out to be Monogyne wouldn't you be losing queens?

The term you were thinking of is pleometrophic. Queens wouldn't die right away, just in the late founding stages or after they get workers.

Pleometrosis gets misused a lot in the antkeeping community. The actual term for what you're thinking of is secondary monogyny.

Haplometrosis: colony founded by 1 queen
Pleometrosis: colony founded by 2+ queens
Primary monogyny: colony starts with 1 queen and never gets any more
Secondary monogyny: colony starts with 2+ queens, extras are killed off until 1 remains
Primary polygyny: Colony starts with 2+ queens and keeps them
Secondary polygyny: Colony starts with 1 queen but later adds extras

 

Yeah after reading this, immigrans tend to be secondary monogynous. I once raised a colony with 3 queens, and it was the workers that killed off the extras, via slowly gnawing off their legs and eventually chopping them to pieces.

[NicholasP]

My favorite ant species so far is Myrmica. They're like bigger Temnothorax but still perfect for office desks and they get more workers!

[UTants]

My favorite ant species is polyrhachis cyaninventris. The blue ants that AntsCanada found.