Tonight I got 15 Brachymyrmex patagonicus queens. I put them all in one single tube.
I have seen alates along their trails, but last night and tonight there have been literally thousands in the pools around here. So many queens tonight, that you can take a scoop of water in parts of the pool and wash out 30+ queens.
All the queens also took off their wings pretty quick, so I'm pretty sure they are mated. And they mate on the ground anyway or shortly after flight, from my personal observations.
The colonies here either get larger than normal, or there are SO many colonies that it just adds up to be a lot of them. They've taken over entire areas and pushed out the Argentine ants in their home territory; the pool areas. Almost every pool area, the Argentine ants have been kicked out and Brachymyrmex patagonicus have replaced them.
Also, the Argentine ants wage useless wars against them if you've seen my other journal
http://www.formicult...of-native-ants/
The Brachymyrmex lose no workers. They win 100% of their fights. However, they seem to get driven out by Monomorium ergatogyna if the M. ergatogyna have enough workers. If Brachymyrmex outnumber them, they win though. Some areas inside the complex (especially on the outer part), the Argentine ants are still too many though, and will just over take an area or colonize it anyway despite losing many numbers of ants.
I guess colonies here have gone super size though, as I've never seen so many queens in the pools of this species...literally thousands. There wasn't an inch of water you could go into without getting them on you.
And yes, for you Myrmecologists, they are 100% Brachymyrmex (though I'm not sure on the patagonicus part, they look exactly like them and they are found here, so I assume that is what they are). I know some think Brachymyrmex are small and unnoticable with small colonies that don't do anything, but I think there should be more NEW research into it. In some areas (at least where I live), they've grown to be as common as Argentine ants and even drive Argentine ants away. There are also pretty nice size trails of them too, not like Argentine ant trails, but definitely noticeable. Also, most native ants and other species can live alongside Brachymyrmex. 
Argentine ants are just seen as a big threat, I guess. However, Brachymyrmex do also see Monomorium ergatogyna as a threat as well sadly. They'll go for them any chance they get if they have the numbers.
In any case...I got 15 queens. I don't know if I'll keep them when they get workers or not, but I'll see if I want to keep them or not once they do. They don't really make the most interesting nests, and while I like watching them dominate Argentine ants. I don't know how fun I'd have watching them in an ant farm.
Has anyone kept this species? Did you enjoy keeping them?
I always kind of prefered ants that make interesting nests, or larger ants. Brachymyrmex are rather small. Guess we'll just have to see. 
Edited by Vendayn, August 13 2015 - 9:09 PM.
