5 replies to this topic

[FloridaAnts]

Hello! Yesterday, while wandering through a grassy field(some trees and palms, I found a trap jaw ant queen under a piece of rotting wood. That’s not important, what is, is I snapped the stick open looking for brood, but I found two termites. One ivory white, and the other tan with a little grey on it.

Here are some pictures, they are 4-6mm.

Are they a founding pair or workers?(Yes only two were in the stick)

[ANTdrew]

Not reproductives.

[FloridaAnts]

Not reproductives.

So should I give them to the Odontomachus or can they become reproductives?

[ANTdrew]

You want at least 100+ termites including nymphs to try to get secondary reproductives. Just feed these to your ants.

[PurdueEntomology]

Well actually both are secondary reproductive either a nymphoid or an ergatoid,  the details of differentiation are requiring closer images of genitalia. This diagnosis is based on the lower individual having clear wing pads while both individuals have wide thoracic regions, wider than generally found in workers.  A worker would have a thin waste between the pronotum and mesonotum.

Edited by PurdueEntomology, June 27 2022 - 12:51 PM.

[FloridaAnts]

Well actually both are secondary reproductive either a nymphoid or an ergatoid, the details of differentiation are requiring closer images of genitalia. This diagnosis is based on the lower individual having clear wing pads while both individuals have wide thoracic regions, wider than generally found in workers. A worker would have a thin waste between the pronotum and mesonotum.

Alright, I thought it was suspicious I found these two alone, and happened to be founding on top of two Odontomachus Brunneas queens. Lucky stick… does it matter which if the two they are? Or should I try to get pictures? It would be quite difficult when they are alive…

How should I raise them? In a normal termite setup? My glass tubes are quite large, is plastic tubes okay?(Sorry for all the questions)


And ANTdrew, I caught about 40-50 termite workers in a log. Will this do?

Edited by FloridaAnts, June 28 2022 - 4:51 AM.