7 replies to this topic

[ahale]

Hi all, my name is Amanda and I'm a UCR Phd student new to entomology and ants in general. Does any one have advice on how to keep workers alive for at least 8 weeks? I'm going to collect these species in Riverside, CA: Veromessor pergandei, Tapinoma sessile, Formica francoeuri, and Solenopsis
xyloni. I will try to collect a Polyergus breviceps colony if it has any slave species, but it looks like it is rare in southern California.

 

For my project, I have to keep their diet and enclosure as similar as possible, if not identical. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Subverted]

Keeping workers alive for long periods without a queen can be quite a challenge.

 

I would suggest you perform some experiments with workers in test tubes feeding them insect matter and sugar solution(nectar mix) but you may have to work at it to keep things alive for 8 weeks. Can you elaborate on what your goals are for your project?

[ahale]

I need to track changes in the worker's bacterial community in their gut over 8 weeks, based on similar housing conditions in a lab. They need to be sampled first in their natural habitat, which is why I wanted to avoid taking the entire colony with the queen. Is keeping a colony with a queen the best bet?

[Subverted]

I think it might be....but maybe someone else has some method of keeping workers without a queen viable for that long?

 

The only time I can think of that I managed something similar was when the workers had brood they were caring for.

[drtrmiller]

I need to track changes in the worker's bacterial community in their gut over 8 weeks, based on similar housing conditions in a lab. They need to be sampled first in their natural habitat, which is why I wanted to avoid taking the entire colony with the queen. Is keeping a colony with a queen the best bet?

 

A queenless colony may also skew the outcome of your study (considering the duration), since the workers interact with the queen through cleaning and trophallaxis, picking up all manner of pheromones and other gyne-specific compounds, which may very well affect composition of gut flora.

 

Also, is there a reason Camponotus is not on your list?  They have a very interesting gut situation going on.

Edited by drtrmiller, May 23 2016 - 4:57 PM.

[dspdrew]

I was under the impression that P. breviceps wasn't actually here in CA, after James C. Trager published the revision, but now that I look at Antweb, It looks like they still are. I know that P. vinosus (recently described by him) is quite common here in Southern California, as I have found them multiple times.

[gcsnelling]

I suspect you are going to have a tough time keeping any of those species alive out to 8 weeks. Proper hydration is going to be the key though. Check with some of the other ent students though they may some ideas.

Edited by gcsnelling, May 24 2016 - 2:22 AM.

[ahale]

 

 

A queenless colony may also skew the outcome of your study (considering the duration), since the workers interact with the queen through cleaning and trophallaxis, picking up all manner of pheromones and other gyne-specific compounds, which may very well affect composition of gut flora.

 

Also, is there a reason Camponotus is not on your list?  They have a very interesting gut situation going on.

 

 

Because I'm look for certain inter-species differences, the effect of no queen interaction on the microbiome shouldn't skew the type of data needed at this stage. Camponotus wasn't chosen because I have species paired by certain factors - I wish I could look at all the species! P. vinosus can't be used for similar reasons, they seem to only raid moki.