82 replies to this topic

[AnthonyP163]

 

Camponotus floridanus are one of the ugliest species I've ever seen. I don't know why you've decided to keep this queen.

How was this helpful? Anyways good luck with your Queen! I'm excited to see her first workers!

 

He was kidding. Haha.

[Aaron567]

 

 

Camponotus floridanus are one of the ugliest species I've ever seen. I don't know why you've decided to keep this queen.

How was this helpful? Anyways good luck with your Queen! I'm excited to see her first workers!

 

He was kidding. Haha.

 

 

he knows

[AntswerMe]

Great pictures Aaron! They look great. Camponotus floridanus are extremely common here in northeastern Florida, I find them everywhere from the beaches, to Jacksonville, to even rural areas. My first nanitics that enclosed of this species never had their exoskeleton harden to this orange color however. They became sort of dark with an orange tinge. Only later ants that emerged had the Queen's orange look. These ants are such a beauty. Good luck!

Are the queens common for you to find? The colonies here are pretty common but this queen is the only live queen I've ever found.

Yep. They are quite common. However, they are night-fliers and you probably wouldn't find them in the day unless they are trapped somewhere like a pool. It has to also be warm and humid at night for them to fly.

[Aaron567]

May 4, 2017
 

Today, two workers eclosed making a total of nine. A few days ago, this colony had three of the seven workers escape from the nest through a hole in the lid of the outworld. Luckily, I found all three workers wandering around near the nest and I put them back and fixed the hole.

 

There is one pupa that is larger than the others, so I'm curious to see how large this new worker will be. I do not think it will be a major, most likely just a larger-sized minor. I am pretty sure they did end up eating the Camponotus snellingi larva I gave to them, because I am sure it would've eclosed as a worker by now.

 

They have been eating very well and do not refuse foods very often. I am still giving them moths and sugar/honey/water mixture. 

 

Edited by Aaron567, May 13 2018 - 8:58 AM.

[klawfran3]

They look like they're doing great, congrats! Is the larger pupae the one that is closest to the camera?

[Aaron567]

They look like they're doing great, congrats! Is the larger pupae the one that is closest to the camera?

 

Yes, that is the larger pupa. 

[123LordOfAnts123]

A little ID correction; this is likely C. discolor as opposed to floridanus. It's a more arboreal, smaller, and much less pilose ant compared to the latter. It also coincides with the date you found it. C. floridanus alates have only just begun to eclose in numbers within wild colonies currently. They won't fly for another month at the earliest, while discolor is, as you've found, a much earlier flier.

[Aaron567]

May 19, 2017

 

This colony is a little over 2.5 months old now, and the large pupa in the last update has just hatched into their first major worker!

 

There are 17 workers total now. I have never had any difficulties with this colony, because they always eat their food and the queen continues to lay eggs. A few days ago, I fed them their first crickets (small crickets that an individual worker could carry) and they ate all three of them. They also never refuse moths.

 

This major is about 7 millimeters.

 

Edited by Aaron567, May 13 2018 - 8:59 AM.

[Mdrogun]

A little ID correction; this is likely C. discolor as opposed to floridanus. It's a more arboreal, smaller, and much less pilose ant compared to the latter. It also coincides with the date you found it. C. floridanus alates have only just begun to eclose in numbers within wild colonies currently. They won't fly for another month at the earliest, while discolor is, as you've found, a much earlier flier.

I always kind of felt that the Camponotus floridanus ID was off because of the size, color, etc. I've been talking to a guy down in Miami and the C. floridanus there just started to get alates. Nice catch!

[123LordOfAnts123]

A little ID correction; this is likely C. discolor as opposed to floridanus. It's a more arboreal, smaller, and much less pilose ant compared to the latter. It also coincides with the date you found it. C. floridanus alates have only just begun to eclose in numbers within wild colonies currently. They won't fly for another month at the earliest, while discolor is, as you've found, a much earlier flier.

I always kind of felt that the Camponotus floridanus ID was off because of the size, color, etc. I've been talking to a guy down in Miami and the C. floridanus there just started to get alates. Nice catch!

Their scarcity of hairs and more uniformly contrasting appearance compared to C. floridanus make them, IMO, a much more attractive ant. They're of course a much less common ant too, so a good find indeed!

[VoidElecent]

What an amazing thread. These girls are beautiful.

[Aaron567]

June 22, 2017

 

This whole month, this colony has not been gaining many workers. They are just starting to get a generation of pupae hatching right now, and there is now a lot of larger workers! Full sized minors that are 6-7mm, a couple more median workers (the "major" in the last update is really just a median), and 2 true majors.

 

There are now just around 25 workers, however the current generation of pupae is starting to hatch and more workers will be gained these next few days. I am loving these colorful ants, and seeing so many of them bunched up together.

 

 

Also, you may or may not have noticed that I changed the title of this journal and edited the name of this species in all previous posts. As 123LordofAnts123 said, these are actually Camponotus discolor and not Camponotus floridanus. I do happen to still have floridanus in my area though, and I have caught at least one fertile queen of them recently. She has eggs now. I will not start a journal on her because I feel like floridanus would look too similar to discolor through pictures, and that making a journal would be somewhat pointless because the two journals would look almost the same.

Edited by Aaron567, May 13 2018 - 9:01 AM.

[Aaron567]

July 26, 2017

 

This colony is now up to 35-40 workers.

 

 

 

I am loving the polymorphism in this colony now. They have two majors which I think look quite impressive next to the minors.

 

 

 

A few days ago I caught some more Camponotus queens and I am debating on whether I should start journals on them since I already have so many journals.

 

Camponotus tortuganus

 

 

Camponotus sexguttatus (She has an egg already)

 

 

Camponotus planatus

Edited by Aaron567, May 13 2018 - 9:06 AM.

[KBant]

Aaron i love your journal! and i too love polymorphism. youre lucky you have such a fast growing colony!! Beautiful pictures too!

[MegaMyrmex]

Nice! Camponotus planatus is polygynous, by the way!

[Aaron567]

January 7, 2018

 

It has been 5 months since I updated this journal. Mostly because not much has changed. The colony is almost one year old now. They grew fast for the first 5 months of their life or so, just to suddenly stop growing. They probably have around 50 workers now, not much different from the last update. They have been in the same THA Atom C nest that I put the founding queen in when I caught her. 

 

Today, I am moving them into a new Atom C because their current one has gotten very dirty. I have also put them on top of my refrigerator where they will be in cooler temperatures, about 60F (15C). I have noticed that this species is not active in the wild during the whole month of January, and they become active again in February so I am leaving them in cool temperatures until then.

 

I have a theory on why they haven't been growing. This species, along with other Camponotus species in the subgenus Myrmentoma, do not have large colonies. The colonies start producing alates at only a couple hundred workers, and they do not get much larger than that. I was thinking maybe they will only get a certain number of workers each year and that they may begin growing quickly again around mid 2018.

 

Here are pictures I took after I took the front cover off of their formicarium to get them to move.

 

Edited by Aaron567, May 13 2018 - 9:08 AM.

[Diesel]

good camera work.

[Bracchymyrmex]

Update?

[Aaron567]

Update?

 

I gotta get some pictures :>

[AnthonyP163]

Loving this journal.