22 replies to this topic

[bmb1bee]

This will be a journal of largely subterranean species that have adapted to foraging underground and in leaf litter. Usually, these ants rarely venture aboveground unless if it is for a nuptial flight. As such, many of them are either opportunistic scavengers or have specialized diets. I plan on collecting more species, hopefully with at least one representative of each genus known for their cryptic habits (i.e. Hypoponera, Myrmecina, Proceratium, Stenamma, Stigmatomma, Strumigenys, and so on). Please let me know if I need to correct any information in this brief summary of the journal.

 

Current Species:

Hypoponera sp.1 

Stenamma sp. 1

Stenamma sp. 2

Solenopsis molesta-group sp. 1

Solenopsis molesta-group sp. 2

Solenopsis molesta-group sp. 3

Edited by bmb1bee, December 13 2024 - 9:19 AM.

[bmb1bee]

                                                                 

Hypoponera sp. 1 - Update 3.XII.2024
                                                                 
"Queen A": During an especially hot heat wave in late September, I was able to find a couple Hypoponera alates around my school campus. This particular queen was found around noon on September 30, 2024 just wandering in the shade near a building. I had a couple others from this heat wave as well, but they all died shortly after due to varying reasons. This queen's development was quite delayed, as she had laid some eggs in a Petri dish with some coconut fiber that I set up but ate them when I moved her to a Petri dish with a layer of plaster. She unfortunately did not lay again until I moved her back to her previous setup a month later. After this, she laid more eggs and now currently has a couple larvae of varying sizes as well as a small clutch of eggs. She is being fed freshly hatched Compsodes schwarzi roaches and tropical pink springtails.
                                                                 
"Queen B": This queen I actually caught today, around late afternoon. It had been raining for a few days last week, so I decided to check the garden at my school for any Hypoponera that had surfaced. After sifting through leaf litter and flipping random pieces of slate, I found a single queen and a couple workers in different locations. This queen was missing part of one of her hind legs, but otherwise in good condition. I now have her in the same setup as Queen A currently does and am hoping that she lays soon.

                                                                 

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Edited by bmb1bee, December 3 2024 - 3:06 PM.

[bmb1bee]

                                                                 

Stenamma sp. 1 - Update 3.XII.2024
                                                                 
"Queen A": I was on vacation in the Orange County area for Thanksgiving Break last week, so I decided to make a trip to a park close by to look for ants. This location happened to be around Long Beach, where I had intended to look for Tetramorium bicarinatum to collect. However, I was sifting through leaf litter at the base of a tree by a pond when I discovered a massive group of Armadillidium vulgare isopods. In this large pile of them, I found a couple dirt-covered queens slowly moving themselves around. At first I had thought they were T. bicarinatum workers, but they were a bit too small. They turned out to be a species of Stenamma, which was interesting because I had never seen them in this color before. They are currently in a Petri dish setup with coconut fiber and have been fed Compsodes schwarzi hatchlings. I eagerly anticipate what the workers of this species will look like, as I did not come across any in the area.
                                                                 
"Queen B": Same information and status as Queen A.

                                                                 

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Edited by bmb1bee, December 3 2024 - 3:05 PM.

[Yusteponant]

                                                                 

Hypoponera sp. 1 - Update 12.XII.2024
                                                                 
"Queen A": During an especially hot heat wave in late September, I was able to find a couple Hypoponera alates around my school campus. This particular queen was found around noon on September 30, 2024 just wandering in the shade near a building. I had a couple others from this heat wave as well, but they all died shortly after due to varying reasons. This queen's development was quite delayed, as she had laid some eggs in a Petri dish with some coconut fiber that I set up but ate them when I moved her to a Petri dish with a layer of plaster. She unfortunately did not lay again until I moved her back to her previous setup a month later. After this, she laid more eggs and now currently has a couple larvae of varying sizes as well as a small clutch of eggs. She is being fed freshly hatched Compsodes schwarzi roaches and tropical pink springtails.
                                                                 
"Queen B": This queen I actually caught today, around late afternoon. It had been raining for a few days last week, so I decided to check the garden at my school for any Hypoponera that had surfaced. After sifting through leaf litter and flipping random pieces of slate, I found a single queen and a couple workers in different locations. This queen was missing part of one of her hind legs, but otherwise in good condition. I now have her in the same setup as Queen A currently does and am hoping that she lays soon.

                                                                 

Nice! I didn't know Cali had Hypoponera I thought they were only on the east coast.

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

 

                                                                 

Hypoponera sp. 1 - Update 12.XII.2024
                                                                 
"Queen A": During an especially hot heat wave in late September, I was able to find a couple Hypoponera alates around my school campus. This particular queen was found around noon on September 30, 2024 just wandering in the shade near a building. I had a couple others from this heat wave as well, but they all died shortly after due to varying reasons. This queen's development was quite delayed, as she had laid some eggs in a Petri dish with some coconut fiber that I set up but ate them when I moved her to a Petri dish with a layer of plaster. She unfortunately did not lay again until I moved her back to her previous setup a month later. After this, she laid more eggs and now currently has a couple larvae of varying sizes as well as a small clutch of eggs. She is being fed freshly hatched Compsodes schwarzi roaches and tropical pink springtails.
                                                                 
"Queen B": This queen I actually caught today, around late afternoon. It had been raining for a few days last week, so I decided to check the garden at my school for any Hypoponera that had surfaced. After sifting through leaf litter and flipping random pieces of slate, I found a single queen and a couple workers in different locations. This queen was missing part of one of her hind legs, but otherwise in good condition. I now have her in the same setup as Queen A currently does and am hoping that she lays soon.

                                                                 

Nice! I didn't know Cali had Hypoponera I thought they were only on the east coast.

 

I have 2 ponera queens but I put them in a dirt setup and now don't know where they are

 

I also caught a bunch of tetramoriums during the heat wave of september but they all died

[bmb1bee]

Nice! I didn't know Cali had Hypoponera I thought they were only on the east coast.

These ants are actually much more common than you might think. Apparently they can be found in many different habitats, including urbanized areas and even deserts. There are several native and invasive species here in California, with some undescribed. This time of year is great to look for colonies under rocks and in leaf litter, since the rain seems to bring cryptics up to the surface.

[bmb1bee]

I have 2 ponera queens but I put them in a dirt setup and now don't know where they are

 

 

I also caught a bunch of tetramoriums during the heat wave of september but they all died

Nice. The trick is to use a small setup so that it's still possible to keep an eye on them; I would probably recommend transferring them to a smaller, flatter container and start feeding them more consistently. Feeding my Hypoponera a few times a week has proved to have been pretty useful.

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

 

I have 2 ponera queens but I put them in a dirt setup and now don't know where they are

 

 

I also caught a bunch of tetramoriums during the heat wave of september but they all died

Nice. The trick is to use a small setup so that it's still possible to keep an eye on them; I would probably recommend transferring them to a smaller, flatter container and start feeding them more consistently. Feeding my Hypoponera a few times a week has proved to have been pretty useful.

 

alright! thanks for the help

[bmb1bee]

                                                                                           

Solenopsis molesta-group sp. 1 - Update 3.XII.2024
                                                                                           
"Colony A": As of October 4 last year in 2023, I'd found several queens of a dark species of Solenopsis in the East Bay foothills. I didn't think they would fly so late, but I assume the trigger was the crazy heat wave that week. Some were sold and others died, as for the last one I kept for myself. She had workers by November, but they died out due to a mold outbreak during early winter. Somehow the queen held on and survived until late summer of 2024, where I was able to collect a number of workers that appeared to be a similar species at school, though I'd never seen the gynes of that species before. The workers accepted her and she eventually produced another generation of workers. I'm pretty happy that this queen managed to make a successful recovery, despite an entire year of mishaps. I'm not sure what this species is; I originally suspected S. validiuscula, but it seems that it could be yet another undescribed species as Solenopsis in the molesta group have messy taxonomy.

                                                                                           

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Edited by bmb1bee, December 3 2024 - 3:19 PM.

[bmb1bee]

                                                                                        

Solenopsis molesta-group sp. 2 - Update 3.XII.2024
                                                                                        
"Colony A": During the aforementioned trip to Orange County, I was also able to stop by at a park in Huntington Beach. The target species here was supposed to be Strumigenys membranifera since it had plenty of irrigated lawns, but I was unsuccessful. However, I was able to find many colonies of what appeared to be a species of Solenopsis, which seemed to be especially abundant in the area. In fact, I would go so far as to say that they were likely the most common ant species within the park. I collected a chunk of dirt by a water sprinkler that contained a whole colony and later on handpicked every single worker, queen, and piece of brood from the dirt with a paintbrush. Normally I wouldn't take that much time off to do that and would rather let them move into a test tube naturally, but I was bored and letting them move would take too long. The colony yielded a couple hundred workers and three queens, as well as a number of eggs and larvae. They seem to like eating roaches and bits of sunflower seeds. As for identification, they seem to be an undescribed species according to the user ReignofRage.
                                                                                        

"Colony B": This colony was from the same park that I collected Colony A from. However, I only collected a single queen and a dozen workers from the nest, as I was out of large containers and found out that they happened to be polygynous and plentiful in the area. Hopefully this portion I collected grows larger over time, with some heat and frequent feeding. Interestingly, the species I collected from this locale were very minute; workers are barely half the size of those from my other Solenopsis molesta-group species.

                                                                                        

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Edited by bmb1bee, December 3 2024 - 3:20 PM.

[bmb1bee]

Pseudo-update:

 

Crazy thing is that I found another Hypoponera queen while digging under a layer of rotting grass clippings underneath a tree. Though this is an alate, I hope she ends up fertile as I did not find any workers or evidence of a colony in the area at all other than her. I also noticed her trying to remove her wings, so that's a good sign. I have no idea if she is of the same species as the other two queens or not, since I haven't tried IDing these yet. Since they were found around the same area and in the latter part of the year, I hope they are the same species. These don't seem to be polygynous, as during the heat wave I introduced two queens to each other only to have them start chasing each other around the Petri dish.

 

Aside from that, I have moved the two Stenamma queens into test tubes since they seem to be discontent with Petri dishes. Since they have better traction on glass than Hypoponera, I hope they end up fine.

Edited by bmb1bee, December 4 2024 - 9:32 PM.

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

Pseudo-update:

 

Crazy thing is that I found another Hypoponera queen while digging under a layer of rotting grass clippings underneath a tree. Though this is an alate, I hope she ends up fertile as I did not find any workers or evidence of a colony in the area at all other than her. I also noticed her trying to remove her wings, so that's a good sign. I have no idea if she is of the same species as the other two queens or not, since I haven't tried IDing these yet. Since they were found around the same area and in the latter part of the year, I hope they are the same species. These don't seem to be polygynous, as during the heat wave I introduced two queens to each other only to have them start chasing each other around the Petri dish.

 

Aside from that, I have moved the two Stenamma queens into test tubes since they seem to be discontent with Petri dishes. Since they have better traction on glass than Hypoponera, I hope they end up fine.

Do you know how big solenopsis molesta colonys can get, not numbers I mean like 1 tube big or smt like that?

Edited by OwlThatLikesAnts, December 5 2024 - 8:14 AM.

[bmb1bee]

Do you know how big solenopsis molesta colonys can get, not numbers I mean like 1 tube big or smt like that?

They're very small ants, so you could theoretically fit nearly an entire colony in something like a 20x200 mm test tube. It's best to have multiple though, or use something like a THA nest.

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

 

Do you know how big solenopsis molesta colonys can get, not numbers I mean like 1 tube big or smt like that?

They're very small ants, so you could theoretically fit nearly an entire colony in something like a 20x200 mm test tube. It's best to have multiple though, or use something like a THA nest.

 

Alright, I just wanted to know because I wanted to restart my colony and also because they are one of the only granivorous ants in Canada

 

Also what do they nest in? can they nest in shells of nuts and stuff like that or is that just acorn ants?

[bmb1bee]

Alright, I just wanted to know because I wanted to restart my colony and also because they are one of the only granivorous ants in Canada

 

 

Also what do they nest in? can they nest in shells of nuts and stuff like that or is that just acorn ants?

In the wild they usually nest under rocks or deep in soil. I found the colonies of sp. 2 in dirt under damp piles of grass clippings at the park. As for nesting in nutshells and the like, I'm not sure but some probably do if given the chance to. As long as as it's a moist chamber they'll probably nest inside.

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

 

Alright, I just wanted to know because I wanted to restart my colony and also because they are one of the only granivorous ants in Canada

 

 

Also what do they nest in? can they nest in shells of nuts and stuff like that or is that just acorn ants?

In the wild they usually nest under rocks or deep in soil. I found the colonies of sp. 2 in dirt under damp piles of grass clippings at the park. As for nesting in nutshells and the like, I'm not sure but some probably do if given the chance to. As long as as it's a moist chamber they'll probably nest inside.

 

Alright! thanks for the help

 

I was curious because of how I find them nesting in more wet areas beut one time I found a nest in a dry sandy dirt area and that confused me for I usually don't find any in places like that

Edited by OwlThatLikesAnts, December 6 2024 - 6:06 AM.

[bmb1bee]

Alright! thanks for the help

 

I was curious because of how I find them nesting in more wet areas beut one time I found a nest in a dry sandy dirt area and that confused me for I usually don't find any in places like that

Yes, they are often found in very dry places as well. Apparently they can even be found in deserts, so Solenopsis molesta-group will nest in a wide variety of habitats depending on species.

[bmb1bee]

                                                                                        

Solenopsis molesta-group sp. 3 - Update 13.XII.2024
                                                                                        
"Queen A": I finally managed to find a queen of the molesta-group Solenopsis at my school, though it was quite a strange day to find one. On December 6th while checking for random insects by a concrete bench to use as feeders, I found one single alate climbing up the bench away from the damp lawn. Though it was sunny out, it wasn't especially warm, so I had no idea if there was a flight or if this was just an evict from a nest. I thought I saw another alate in the air, but was unable to catch it to find out. As of current, she hasn't shed her wings, so I doubt she is fertile. If she does turn out fertile or if I find a queen/colony of them on Campus, I'll be sure to update.

                                                                                        

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Edited by bmb1bee, December 13 2024 - 9:24 AM.

[bmb1bee]

                                                                 

Stenamma sp. 2 - Update 13.XII.2024
                                                                 
"All of Them": As Stenamma flights in the Bay were around the previous week, I went up to the East Bay foothills on December 8th to look for queens that may have shed their wings under rocks. I'd collected a couple last year around this month and also saw observations of them the previous Sunday close by. However, when I made it to my spot, I found that they were still actively flying. I collected a few dozen that had swarmed and landed all over my jacket, and later on found more in my shirt and hat even half an hour after leaving. A few of the queens I hoped would be fertile, as I collected them while they were still mating. I also wanted to try stimulating flight conditions for the rest of the alates to mate, but my schedule didn't align with it all too well, since I get out of school rather late. Adding damp soil to a container seemed to have worked in getting some of the queens to shed their wings; around half of the ones that I caught as alates are now dealates. I will likely split them into several individual queens and one multi-queen group, potentially selling or trading any extras. Updates will be on the multi-queen group and any queens that happen to lay eggs.

                                                                 

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Edited by bmb1bee, December 13 2024 - 9:23 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

Do you know how big solenopsis molesta colonys can get, not numbers I mean like 1 tube big or smt like that?

They can get well into the thousands, so I would say 2-3 20mm test tubes. Their queens also breed in the nest, so theoretically they don't have a size limit except how much you feed them.