14 replies to this topic

[Ernteameise]

I had been on a veterinary conference in Hannover, Germany, in the past few days.

Yesterday was a massive nuptial flight of different ant species.

The roads and walkways were covered, mainly in Lasius niger queens (by the thousands).

But then I saw a much smaller queen crossing my path when I took a walk outside.

I could not believe my luck!

It was a queen of Leptothorax acervorum!

I have been wanting this species for a while.

They are easy to keep and form very small colonies.

They are in fact the ants that exist into the Arctic Circle and have the northernmost populations of any ant.

Hence the "Arctic Ladies".

They are also host to three absolutely amazing social parasites, three other Leptothorax species, which do not even produce any workers anymore. These parasites have these dorso-ventrally flattened queens which attach themselves to the host abdomen like some especially annoying ticks.

 

I have an empty mini-hearth for these girls when they grow.

 

Right now, the queen (which performs claustral founding) is safe and sound in a test tube and I hope I will have a colony develop.

 

 

 

 

I have not seen many journals and reports on here of Leptothorax.

Maybe they are not the most interesting ants?

However, if you have some experience with them, feel free to share.

Edited by Ernteameise, July 12 2024 - 1:18 PM.

[Ernteameise]

Right....

someone in the German Facebook group made me aware that I did a misidentification-

This species is no Leptothorax. 

Instead, this is a Tetramorium species (seriously, without a microscope I find it hard to tell the difference, especially with the many color morphs).

But I think I will still try to raise a little colony from this queen, even if it is not what I expected.

I will have to think up a catchy title and then write to a mod so my thread title can be changed.

[Zzz]

Even though it’s not the species you wanted, tetramorium is awesome to keep, so good luck and have fun. Already following this topic btw!

Edited by Zzz, July 11 2024 - 12:23 AM.

[NotAxo]

Right....
someone in the German Facebook group made me aware that I did a misidentification-
This species is no Leptothorax. 
Instead, this is a Tetramorium species (seriously, without a microscope I find it hard to tell the difference, especially with the many color morphs).
But I think I will still try to raise a little colony from this queen, even if it is not what I expected.
I will have to think up a catchy title and then write to a mod so my thread title can be changed.

I don't think you have to write to a mod to change the title. Just edit the first post using the advanced editor. That is how I changed my topic from 'NotAxo's ant journal' to 'NotAxo's founding journal' or something like that, I can't remember

[ANTdrew]

Just hit edit on the first post, then you can edit the title. I could do it for you as well, of course.

[Ernteameise]

Even though it’s not the species you wanted, tetramorium is awesome to keep, so good luck and have fun. Already following this topic btw!

I have seen that Tetramorium are very aggressive (no surprise, since they are the ants best known for their spring wars).

So they appear to be true warriors....

I actually wanted only peaceful species, so not sure how easy they will be to keep (they also appear to be escape artists).

[Ernteameise]

No changes so far with the queen, no eggs, but she is still alive and happy (as far as I can tell).

I will now try and disturb her as little as possible for the next weeks.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

luck to this queen!

[Zzz]

 

Even though it’s not the species you wanted, tetramorium is awesome to keep, so good luck and have fun. Already following this topic btw!

I have seen that Tetramorium are very aggressive (no surprise, since they are the ants best known for their spring wars).

So they appear to be true warriors....

I actually wanted only peaceful species, so not sure how easy they will be to keep (they also appear to be escape artists).

 

I keep a tetramorium colony (still small) and I have really been enjoying them. Right now they are quite shy but I don’t know how long that will last . 

[Ernteameise]

Today I checked on the queen, and there are the first eggs!

We might be off to a good start.

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Look out!

[Ernteameise]

Oh no.

Sadly I have to report a death today.

I am not sure what went wrong.

I just found her dead in the test tube.

RIP little queen.

 

Edited by Ernteameise, July 27 2024 - 6:11 AM.

[ANTdrew]

So sorry. Unfortunately, this happens somewhat commonly with queens of this species.

[Ernteameise]

So sorry. Unfortunately, this happens somewhat commonly with queens of this species.

Do we know why?

They are supposedly claustral, however, this species has the option of returning to the nest after the nuptial flight. Maybe they have a better chance when doing pleometrosis?

[ANTdrew]

I’m not really sure why this happens. Colonies pump out so many queens over weeks of nuptial flights here that some just turn out wrong I guess.