29 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

Update 4-18-2018
 
This colony is still doing really well. They are up to about 200 workers now, 11 of them being majors.
 

 

 

 
 
These guys decided to stick a bunch of trash to their feeder, but luckily there's only so much they can fit on these feeders. At first I was wondering how these tiny ants got all those large cricket parts up there, until I saw one major dragging a whole cricket back to the nest all by itself.
 

 

[anttics]

how big are the majors and minors?. I have never seen them in person.

[dspdrew]

Majors are about 3 to 4 mm in length. Minors are about 2 mm.

[CoolColJ]

How big is the queen?

 

Damn that is some small majors, I'm used to seeing much larger Pheidole majors around here

[dspdrew]

The queen is about 5 to 6 mm.

[CoolColJ]

The queen is about 5 to 6 mm.

 

Ok, my queens are around 7-9mm so that explains the size difference of the majors

[dspdrew]

 

The queen is about 5 to 6 mm.

 
Ok, my queens are around 7-9mm so that explains the size difference of the majors

 

 
Yours are probably from one of the larger groups, like fallax. These are from the pilifera group, which are very small.

[YsTheAnt]

Do we in CA have any Pheidole from the fallax group? Only ones I have seen or kept have queens that Max out at about 4-5mm

[dspdrew]

I know P. hyatti, P. vistana, and P. desertorum are fallax group.

[dspdrew]

Update 1-13-2019
 

This colony is dead.