33 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

8-8-2014
 
On Thursday 7-24-2014 I collected four of these Temnothorax sp. alates on my black light up in Trabuco Canyon, California. It was a very warm, calm and humid night and had just gotten dark when they flew.
 
ID Thread: https://www.formicul....php/topic/421-
 
1. Location of collection: Trabuco Canyon, California.
2. Date of collection: 7-24-2014.
3. Habitat of collection: Chaparral/Oak Forest.
4. Length (from head to gaster): 4 mm.
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: All brown.
6. Distinguishing characteristics:  Small spines.
 



 

 
 
A few days later one of them died, and two removed their wings.
 
Now, two weeks later, the alate has a few eggs, and the two dealates both have an egg and two larvae, so most likely I have at least two fertile queens.


 

[Gregory2455]

Are you going to do the whole acorn thing? 

[dspdrew]

Probably.

[Gregory2455]

I want to see that so bad. 

[Gregory2455]

I am pretty sure my profile picture is a Temnothorax species... Temnothorax rugatulus I think.

[dspdrew]

Sure looks like it. I had a log for a while that I thought had a colony in it, but it just turned out to be a satellite nest. They were T. rugatulus.

[Gregory2455]

Update? Will more Temnothorax fly this year?

[dspdrew]

Update 9-13-2014
 
About two weeks after I found these, I could see they each had one egg and one small larva, so I was pretty sure then that they were all fertile.
 
About one week ago, all three got their first workers. At this point, all three have one worker, and one large larva. The one that kept its wings, still has them today.
 

 

[Foogoo]

Any updates on this or your other Temnothorax colony?

[dspdrew]

I might update these soon. If there's something interesting enough happening. These colonies seem to grow very slowly. They also have very small colonies too, sometimes no bigger than 100 workers or so.

[dspdrew]

Update 6-2-2015
 
This colony is growing very slowly. They now have four workers and about 10 brood.
 

[dspdrew]

Update 7-1-2015
 
It's been a month since the last update, and the colony has only gained one worker, putting them at five now. They do have more brood though, and a few look like they should be eclosing in a week or two.
 
Here are a few new pictures.
 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Update 9-9-2015
 
Looks like one worker died, but they're up to seven total now. They still have plenty on the way too.

[dspdrew]

Update 3-12-2016
 
The colony slowly died off.

[Gregory2455]

That sucks. Still have mine but she is alone and likely to die soon.

[dspdrew]

Update 8-9-2017

Not sure why I waited so long to update this journal, but I found a bunch more of these in Trabuco Canyon again, on 6-14-2017. All but two of them have died. The two remaining queens have small piles of brood and look like they should be getting workers any day now.

[dspdrew]

Update 10-6-2017

I have one queen left and she still only has two large larvae.

[AntsCalifornia]

This says discontinued. Did the last one die?

[Zeiss]

This says discontinued. Did the last one die?

Yes, discontinued means he has none left.

[dspdrew]

This says discontinued. Did the last one die?

 
Good question. I was very confused between this species and another species of Temnothorax, so it's possible I didn't move all the posts to the right thread or something, and discontinued this one since for whatever reason, I determined I have no more of these.
 
Edit: Figured it out. I moved these last few posts here, and forgot to take the "discontinued" off. Good catch.

Edited by dspdrew, November 20 2017 - 3:33 AM.