37 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

How big is your Ph. barbata colony?

[ReignofRage]

I'm not sure. I consistently play a game I like to call "Schrödinger's Ants". It's where I keep everything in an incubator and don't open it for over a month at a time. I never really enjoyed keeping ants to begin with, so it's a rather convenient game to play for me.

[bmb1bee]

 

Update 9 Feb. 2024

 

 

Dorymyrmex sp. 1. I decided to ethanol these colonies as the gynes are needed for a description of the species. They grew around as fast as any other Dorymyrmex species I have kept and had the standard Dorymyrmex behaviors in captivity. By the time of dumping the colonies into ethanol, they were each around 50 workers or so in size.

 

Pheidole clydei. This colony has continued to grow at a rapid rate, which make sense considering that the species was shown to be a part of the P. flavens-group. There is now a few dozen majors and around 600 minor workers. Their 10x20x13 cm foraging area is now overwhelmed with foragers at any given moment. Feeding this colony has only gotten more fun to watch. Soon after dropping in chopped up insects, they form a dense trail to the food source and majors come aid in breaking down the pieces. They also have been consuming mass amounts of sugars as well, with the colony going through around 5-7mL of sugar water every 1.5 weeks. I broke a piece of acrylic that was going to be apart of the formicarium I was working on for this colony, so i now have to 3D-print a piece, which has delayed the making of the formicarium.

 

Pogonomyrmex tenuispinus. I dwindled the number of colonies of this species to three. Each one has close to ten workers or so, which is due to my neglect. They burn through proteins nearly as fast as P. rugosus and I have not been the best at keeping up with their needs in that aspect. They have continued to grow despite this though and all colonies have a decent large brood pile.

 

As a side note, I do have other species that I could add to this journal. These species include Pheidole barbata, Pheidole psammophila, Veromessor pergandei, and Veromessor stoddardi. 

 

Would love to see updates and photos of P. barbata and P. psammophila...

[M_Ants]

I'm not sure. I consistently play a game I like to call "Schrödinger's Ants". It's where I keep everything in an incubator and don't open it for over a month at a time. I never really enjoyed keeping ants to begin with, so it's a rather convenient game to play for me.

The yogi did not enjoy Schrödinger's Ants 

[ReignofRage]

Camponotus yogi made it to 25 workers with the use of two 3 month games of Schrödinger's Ants for me.

[M_Ants]

Thought they died?

[ReignofRage]

Would love to see updates and photos of P. barbata and P. psammophila...

 

For now, here's a picture of the two color variations of Pheidole psammophila that I have found. 

 

 

I hadn't seen the dark one before, so it was a rather delightful surprise when I found them. Gynes and minor workers have no differences, so I assume the dark coloration is consequence of being a rather isolated population. The lighter color is the "normal" color variant of the species. What is interesting, though, is that the dark variant population has more defined morphological features in comparison to the normal color variant. 

Edited by ReignofRage, February 9 2024 - 10:26 PM.

[ReignofRage]

Thought they died?

 

I have caught gynes and kept new colonies of C. yogi for the past three years; initially it was to prove a point and then it turned into something I do for fun. However, last time I went I got stalked by some psychopath through the forest. The ones you inquired about late 2023 ran out of water before I checked them. Prior years I was making test tube setups with more water. 

Edited by ReignofRage, February 9 2024 - 11:31 PM.

[ReignofRage]

Update 18 March 2024

 

 

 

Aphaenogaster megommata. This colony has a microgyne, which is evident in the photos. The typical gyne size for A. megommata is ~9 mm - this gyne is ~6-6.5 mm. To my knowledge this is the first microgyne collected for this species. Workers are normal size and there is a little over 100 workers. They consume lots of sugar water and workers get decently physogastric.

 

Pheidole clydei. There is not much to say about this colony. Growth has continued as normal. The colony consumes lots of insects and I have added a liquid feeder of water, since they do consume water relatively fast.

 

Pheidole psammophila. The two colonies I kept of this species currently are heavily feeding upon seeds and crushed protein pellets. They are growing well and are very active.

 

Pogonomyrmex tenuispinus. The three colonies are growing well and have recently started to produce notably larger workers. I have continued to feed them insect proteins in addition to their seeds.

[bmb1bee]

Updates?

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

,

Edited by GOCAMPONOTUS, June 19 2024 - 7:09 AM.

[ReignofRage]

Update?

 

Why? Just why (rhetorical*). It is very evident* that I am active on this site; the user bmb1bee commenting "update" will give me a notification that I will read and respond to. Posting the exact same thing a mere* 38 minutes later will not make me post an update any sooner. I stongly suggest that you refrain (see below) from commenting on this thread and any thread started by me from here on out*. I fear you may not comprehend any of this, especially the sentence prior to this one.

 

The word "refrain" has a very long history and may be difficult to understand. To make sure this get's through your Craniometaphyseal dysplasia*, and to make sure it doesn't slide right off your Miller-Dieker Syndrome (Lissencephaly)*, I will provide many sources of definitions for the aforementioned* term: refrain. Thankfully, there is many public resources available to us (here on the internet!) to figure out this difficult term. The defintion and meaning of this word, in this context, has been phrased numerous ways through its history some of which are as follows:

"to keep oneself from doing, feeling, or indulging in something and especially from following a passing impulse" (Merrian-Webster), "to abstain from an impulse to say or do something" (Dictionary.com), "to avoid doing or stop yourself from doing something" (Cambridge Dictionary) "resist doing something" (Vocabulary.com), "do without; keep from doing" (Thesaurus.com) "If you refrain from doing something, you deliberately do not do it" (Collins Dictionary), "to stop yourself from doing something that you want to do" (Britannica), "To hold back; curb" (yourdictionary.com), and "To hold oneself back; forbear from doing something" (thefreedictionary.com).

 

It should be taken into consideration that this listing of definitions is only the first handful available when using the common internet browser "Google Chrome." Further research and studies into the matter will undoubtedly reveal and result in a plethora of more sources and defintions.

 

*Some of these words may be beyond comprehention for you, so I have went ahead and made hyperlinks to defintions for each term and phrase. 

 

References cited

Cambridge English Dictionary. "Refrain | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary." Cambridge English Dictionary. https://dictionary.c...nglish/refrain/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

Collins. "Refrain Definition in American English." Collins Dictionary. https://www.collinsd...oogle_vignette/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

Dictionary.com. "Refrain Definition & Meaning." Dictionary.com. https://www.dictiona...browse/refrain/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

MedlinePlus. "Craniometaphyseal dysplasia: MedlinePlus Genetics." National Library of Medicine, Home, Genetics, Genetic Conditions, Craniometaphyseal dysplasia. https://medlineplus....seal-dysplasia/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

MedlinePlus. "Miller-Dieker syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics." National Library of Medicine, Home, Genetics, Genetic Conditions, Miller-Dieker syndrome. https://medlineplus....ieker-syndrome/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

Merrian-Webster. "Aforementioned Definition & meaning." Merrian-Webster, Dictionary. https://www.merriam-...aforementioned/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

Merrian-Webster. "Evident Definition & Meaning." Merrian-Webster, Dictionary. https://www.merriam-...ionary/evident/. Accessed 18 June 2024

Merrian-Webster. "From Here On (out) Definition & Meaning." Merrian-Webster, Dictionary. https://www.merriam-... here on (out)/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

Merrian-Webster. "Mere Defintion & Meaning." Merrian-Webster, Dictionary. https://www.merriam-...ictionary/mere/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

Merrian-Webster. "Refrain Definition & Meaning." Merrian-Webster, Dictionary. https://www.merriam-...ionary/refrain/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

Merrian-Webster. "Rhetorical Definition & Meaning." Merrian-Webster, Dictionary. https://www.merriam-...ary/rhetorical/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

The Britannica Dictionary. "Refrain Defintion & Meaning." Britannica. https://www.britanni...ionary/refrain/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

The Free Dictionary. "Refrain - Definition of Refrain by The Free Dictionary." The Free Dicitonary By Farlex. https://www.thefreed...ry.com/refrain/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

Thesaurus.com. "54 Synonyms & Antonyms for Refrain." Thesaurus.com. https://www.thesauru...browse/refrain/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

Vocabulary.com. "Refrain - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms." Vocabulary.com. https://www.vocabula...ionary/refrain/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

Yourdictionary. "Refrain Definition & Meaning." Yourdictionary.com. https://www.yourdict...ry.com/refrain/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

 

 

Apologies to those who expected this to be an update. One will be coming shortly.

Edited by ReignofRage, June 18 2024 - 8:49 PM.

[NotAxo]

Bro what was that? I didn't understand a thing ;-; .

I think GOCAMOONOTUS got owned on an ant forum..

[NotAxo]

Anyways, bro, where did you get the degree for entomology? Is it in USA? Which institution? I really want a degree for entomology. I'm in 11th right now

[AntsCali098]

I think my gyne is about 7mm. Would this be considered a microgyne?

[100lols]

Reign, you’re silly. Crushed them, & with sources.

Looking forward to hearing from you

Edited by 100lols, June 22 2024 - 4:26 AM.

[ReignofRage]

Update 22 June 2024

 

 

Aphaenogaster megommata. Due to a lack of feeding, this colony has not grown too much. However, they did start to produce a male here and there. Every time they make a male, it ends up flying out of their setup and buzzes around.

       I examined gynes from the LACM and they do differ in some aspects to this queen, which is slightly longer than 6mm. The gynes examined are around 8-8.5 mm, less coarse striae, eyes smaller in proportion to different head measurements (head length, oculomandibular length, head width, etc.), and head seems longer among other things. Mackay & Mackay (2017) stated the length of A. megommata gynes to be 6-7 mm, which differs from the gynes collected from Nevada collections that I have examined. The drawn figure of a gyne from Mackay & Mackay (2017) seems to align with this gyne and not gynes from Nevada. Whether the possibility of A. megommata being a cryptically diverse species group or just notable variation, it's hard to say. The A. megommata specimens from the Baja peninsula appear to possibly be a different species as well. A phylogenetic study would likely be the only way to tell. Geographically speaking, there does seem to be some coincidental details that overlap, but it is likely just looking too far into it at this point in time.

 

Pheidole clydei. This colony has yet to slow down on growing and more recently wore down their barrier in a spot. I found them trailing out of their setup and through my room. There is a few larger larvae, but it seems like they will just be larger-sized majors. I have yet to finish the nest for them due to being busy and spending my free time on a different non-ant related project. I will try to get around to working on the nest, but for the time being I'll continue supplying new test tubes for their ever-growing population.

 

Pheidole psammophila. Nothing but consistent growth with these. The majors consisntely break down seeds and the minors aid in breaking down seeds as well. Their brood pile recently turned to pupae, so there'll be a decent size population boom. Interestingly, every now and then a worker will have a gaster with a small yellowish blotch much akin to the minors of the brown/yellow variant of Pheidole barbata. The minors seem to be close to full size when compared to workers collected from wild colonies.Majors have yet to get full size and are still somewhat darker than typical.

 

Pogonomyrmex tenuispinus. My main colony is around 50 workers now and they just keep trucking along. They have been consuming tons of proteins lately. They still are in a tubs 'n' tubes setup, which has been working great for them, just like all other Pogonomyrmex I have kept. For being a Pogonomyrmex species, they are relatively clean - they put all of their trash as far away from the tube entrances and don't spread their fecal matter over everything. I don't have plans for a formicarium for these, but I do think that I might put them in a custom 10 gallon dirt box I made some years ago.

[ReignofRage]

1 September 2024

 

 

Aphaenogaster megommata. I gave this colony away around a month ago.

 

Pheidole clydei. This colony has embraced their P. flavens-group genes and have started to escape somewhat frequently; even squeezing through the gap between the tight lid and acrylic box. I need to move them into a formicarium, however I have been extremely busy and have not had much time to care for my ants or do anything for myself.

 

Pheidole psammophila. These have continued to munch on seeds and protein pellets. They're growing a little slower lately, but I am associating that with the lack of care.

 

 

Pogonomyrmex tenuispinus. This colony has continued to steadily grow and has recently reached sexual maturity. The egg that turned into the gyne alates they made, when based on the average egg to worker time I have been experiencing with this colony, was laid just before the one year mark of when I collected the couple dozen I collected last year. The pictures are of a freshly-murked gyne that was walking around headless in the foraging area.

Edited by ReignofRage, September 1 2024 - 10:12 PM.