188 replies to this topic

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

That replete pic is just stunning!

[ANTdrew]

Pretty sharp photos, regardless!

[kiedeerk]

Camponotus socius has to be one of the prettiest Camponotus species in the USA. I have two colonies. The smaller colony has about 15 workers with healthy brood pile. The smaller colony has a much bigger queen compared to the other colony. Both queens were caught last October and diapaused until January or so. The larger colony now has over 60 workers. The interesting thing is they haven’t produced any media or major workers. Usually castaneus, chromaoides, pennsylvanicus would have produced media workers by now.

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[Yusteponant]

Can't wait to see more!

[Ants_Dakota]

Awesome documentation of some less kept species. Keep it up!

[kiedeerk]

This colony of M placadops 01 is growing well and this new nest is proving great for pictures. Interesting that they prefer to use the shelves to put their brood on instead of the water tower.

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Edited by kiedeerk, September 8 2024 - 3:12 AM.

[kiedeerk]

New additions to the ant room: Acromyrmex versicolor

This is a bit of an experiment. I received some acromyrmex queens two weeks ago. These are abundant in the southwest of the USA with massive nuptial flights. The queens will leave their nest with a grain of fungus in their mouth. However the difficulty of getting any fungus growing species is how fragile the fungus is. The fungus usually die during shipping especially in the summer time. Without their fungus, the queens are basically unless and will never found. These queens I received arrive without any fungus. Since I have a colony of trachymyrmex that have a massive fungus garden. I transferred some of their fungus to the acromyrmex queens. They showed immediate interest to the fungus. These acromyrmex queens were from an area where they are polygenous. I separated the queens into groups of 3/4. I gave them dry rose petals, oats, and wild flowers. They began to cut the flowers and adding bits to the fungus. The queens have also laid quite a few eggs and place them in the crevasse of the fungal garden. I hope they are able to grow the fungus and found successfully.

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[GOCAMPONOTUS]

They are just awesome! I'm rooting for them.

[kiedeerk]

Acromyrmex versicolor have larva. What I have noticed is that the trachy fungus looks abit different when it is under the care of acromyrmex. I included a couple pictures of the trachy fungus garden. The acromyrmex queens also seem to like different plant/flower matter compared to trachy which is probably the reason the fungus look a bit different. But it is interesting and I am hoping the acromyrmex will found and keep the fungus alive. I plan on hibernationg the trachy as they would in nature but I am also afraid the fungus will die during diapause. Now if the Acromyrmex will grow and keep the fungus alive during the winter as they don’t need to diapause I will be able to transplant the fungus back to trachy once they finish diapause.

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