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[bmb1bee]

                                                                 

Update 20.IV.2025
                                                                 
Back in late October 2024, I traded for some Lasius as well as three founding Brachymyrmex depilis queens from AntsDakota. Since they didn't seem too productive yet and wouldn't accept brood from B. patagonicus, I decided to put them in the fridge for diapause. A couple months ago I took them out and gave them a fresh tube change. Unfortunately one of the queens passed away, but the other two seemed to be doing fine (seemingly due to protein intake from eating the dead one). They laid some eggs after a little while, but it was too soon to be sure of anything so I wanted to wait until they got workers to start a journal. Fast forward to this week... After checking on them a couple days ago, I noticed they had a cocoon already, which seemed to be that of a worker. That one unfortunately didn't eclose well and ended up drowned in condensation. I countered this by adding small bits of napkins around the spot where the queens dumped their brood. Finally, today I noticed that another worker had eclosed alive and well! I'm pretty happy to have been able to successfully found this species and would love to get a thriving colony out of them. Shoutout and much thanks to AntsDakota again for supplying them (and if you're reading this I promise to get to your nests after AP testing is over...)!

P.S. it seems the trick to this species is to have them in a normal test tube setup, but with the cotton thoroughly soaked enough to provide enough humidity. It should also be pulled a bit in a way to provide a bit of shelter for the queens, which seem to like smaller spaces. Heating them at around 75-80 degrees is useful for getting them to develop faster, but it risks condensation for when you remove the tube from a cable or incubator for photos. To counter this, it'd be best to add a couple tiny pieces of dry napkin around their nesting area so that the queens, workers, and brood don't drown from the droplets of water. I'll take pictures of my setup with proper labels later this week.

                                                                 

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Edited by bmb1bee, Yesterday, 10:29 PM.

[Ants_Dakota]

Awesome! I am so glad you were able to get success, and your method is really helpful for those in the future! From my research, you are just the 3rd person to get this species to workers, and I hope you will be the first to raise a successful colony from just the queens! No worries about the formicaria, I remember AP testing season