63 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

8-19-2013
 
I found a few Myrmecocystus yuma queens 8-16-2014, a little east of Lucern Valley in the Mojave Desert of California. I dug them out of their founding chambers about three days after it had rained. These were about seven or eight inches deep.
 
Most of them started laying eggs the next day.
 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Update 9-24-2014
 
Two days ago, about one month and one week after collecting these, one of these queens got her first worker.
 

 

 
 
I've had a few of these die, but still have a decent amount left. These, like all other Myrmecocystus, seem to make a mess of their brood, and let a lot of their eggs and larvae dry up and die.

[Gregory2455]

Pretty ants! I love Myrmecocystus!

[dspdrew]

Doesn't everyone?

[Gregory2455]

These M.yuma queens have a smaller semi-clausteral/ parasitic look to them, I don't know why.

[dspdrew]

They are really the same proportions as all the other Myrmecocystus queens, just a lot smaller. Gaster sizes can range big time in any of the species depending on what's in them.

[Alza]

i see.

[Gregory2455]

Both my myrmecocystus were FAT.

[Alza]

with ants being fat is good i assume 

[Gregory2455]

Yeah.

[dspdrew]

I've had lots of really fat ones turn skinny, and some skinny ones turn fat. It can change as they eat or develop eggs.

[dspdrew]

Update 11-24-2014
 
Only two of these queens have workers right now, with the largest having seven. The largest colony also has about 50 larvae, and three cocoons, and is being kept in a foraging container with sand.
 

 

 

[Gregory2455]

Wow! A species of Myrmecocystus that do well in test tubes! That is a first...

[dspdrew]

There's a bunch of them that still don't have any workers. I wouldn't say they do well.

[Gregory2455]

I would argue that 50 larvae in a test tube is "doing well."

[dspdrew]

Maybe that one. Certainly not the others. I wouldn't even say the one with 50 larvae is doing well. Seven workers in three months is not that great.

[Gregory2455]

It is compared to other Myrmecocystus...

[dspdrew]

Update 12-3-2014
 
First of all, I have confirmed these are M. yuma.

 

There are now three colonies with workers. I moved another colony (one with two workers) into a foraging container.

[LAnt]

3 out of ?

[dspdrew]

Three out of six.