17 replies to this topic

[nepenthes]

Hello all!

I have been relatively quiet the past few years. I have been busy busy busy with school. Other than working on a new species description; I have some fun colonies I take care of in my lab. My research adviser focuses primarily on Megalomyrmex social parasites of Attines, the monophyletic clade of fungus-growing ants. I am equally interested in parasitism, but of Diapriidae kionobionts that attack fungus-growing ant larvae. Though that's all kind of off topic but fairly relevant. 

A bit about the colonies I look after. They are all from the Colon Province near Gamboa, Panama. My research adivser has gotten permits, and these ants are all in a USDA approved lab. 

@Dspdrew had asked me to share. 


All the colonies

 

An Apterostigma dentigrum queen we were trying to rear, but she failed to produce and her fungus kept getting infected. She died, and will be a helpful dry specimen to have in our collection.

 

Sericomyrmex amabilis  workers foraging on rice, crown vech, oak catkins, red bud flowers, and caterpillar frass.

All that I really have available is some tiimelaps videos over on my instagram so please feel free to check those out.
I will be going in to the museum tomorrow to tend to the colonies and will try to get you all some photos/videos so you can see the overall set up.

-nepenthes

 

Edited by nepenthes, March 12 2017 - 5:31 PM.

[Zeiss]

Very nice to see you back!

[Alabama Anter]

Welcome back!

[dermy]

That's a name I haven't heard in a long time! Since the really old days when I had first started ant keeping. Glad to see your still keeping ants, esp. hard species like fungus growers!

[FSTP]

Amazing Name.

[Canadian anter]

Welcome back!

[Martialis]

On the topic of Attini fungus, is it unusual for genera to farm more than one type of fungus? I'm thinking Trachymyrmex or perhaps similar taxa.

[nepenthes]

On the topic of Attini fungus, is it unusual for genera to farm more than one type of fungus? I'm thinking Trachymyrmex or perhaps similar taxa.

Excellent question, It depends on the level of agriculture in Attini. There are three main categories, Lower agriculture, Higher agriculture, and Leaf-cutting agriculture. Lower agriculturalists generally grow more than one fungus, like yeasts and fungi they find in their environment, such as Apterostigma. Higher agriculture, like Trachymyrmex, Sericomyrmex, Cyphomyrmex, etc. etc. culture a single fungus. Higher agriculture, and Leaf-cutting agriculture are fairly similar, in that they both culture a single cultivar; however the method of substrate acquisition is different. As the name implies, leaf-cutters cut fresh plant matter including only Atta and Acromyrmex. Alternatively higher agriculturalists  typically will provide a plethora of organic material, from caterpillar frass to flower petals. Now, some higher agriculturalists, such as Trachymyrmex species, will actively cut plant material, but it is not their only way to obtain substrate for their gardens. The higher agriculturalists, such as Trachymyrmex actually represent a unique transition from higher too leaf-cutting agriculture, due to this behavior.

Also, a side note. Only genus and species are italicized or underlined. Higher classification such as family, sub-family, and tribe are left alone; and only require capitalization.

Hope this helped Martialis.

[Martialis]

Thank you.

[nepenthes]

Thanks for the warm welcome back. 

Since I am on the topic of Trachymyrmex, I thought I would show our T. zeteki colony. They are pretty neat, in that their nest entrances form a funnel shape made of compact earth extruding from vertical earth faces. It is hypothesized that they do this to keep army ants at bay. This nest entrance is seen in Cyphomyrmex longiscapus and C. mulleri, likely a result of convergent evolution as these Trachymyrmex sp's and Cyphomyrmex sp's are sympatric. 

My research advisor has been at my institution for over a year now, and she got some of her colonies back from Denmark a couple months ago.

They are in the process of recovering from their trip. Trachymyrmex zeteki can get colonies that reach 400-500 workers. Here are some photos of the colony in my care. 

You can see leftover polenta and rice meal. A colonies taste can fluctuate from time to time, so sometimes they ignore a food item for a period of time. We are trying to get them to expand into a second nest box, and that process is slow going. We simply pluck some fungus, and put it on a new weigh boat in the new box. You can see that they have been digging at their plaster, which is why we need to keep up with them moving.


Here you can see the smaller chunk we pulled, which is growing quite nicely. The upper chamber in the photo, is the original nest box. The garden has nearly doubled since we got it. This colony is doing quite well!


And here is a shot of the queen. It is about as good as I can do with my phone. Sorry.

I will have more updates eventually. If you have any questions please don't be afraid to ask!
-nepenthes

Edited by nepenthes, March 13 2017 - 3:05 PM.

[Bracchymyrmex]

Love to get a hold of Trachymyrmex, apparently they are native to New Jersey so I'm gonna keep an eye out for them. Any pointers you have for locating and picking up colonies? 

[Martialis]

Love to get a hold of Trachymyrmex, apparently they are native to New Jersey so I'm gonna keep an eye out for them. Any pointers you have for locating and picking up colonies? 

 

They only extend to the pine barrens.. I don't think you'll find any in PA.

[Aaron567]

Trachmyrmex septentrionalis nests are all over my yard right now. There are so many colonies of them. I wish I could catch and successfully raise a queen. I caught some Cyphomyrmex rimosus queens last year but they never seemed to spit up their fungal pellet.

 

I would love to own a Trachymyrmex colony but I would like to ask, how do you care for yours and how do you keep the fungus alive? Is it difficult?

Edited by Aaron567, March 13 2017 - 4:32 PM.

[nepenthes]

Trachmyrmex septentrionalis nests are all over my yard right now. There are so many colonies of them. I wish I could catch and successfully raise a queen. I caught some Cyphomyrmex rimosus queens last year but they never seemed to spit up their fungal pellet.

 

I would love to own a Trachymyrmex colony but I would like to ask, how do you care for yours and how do you keep the fungus alive? Is it difficult?

Trachymyrmex species queens semi-claustral, so that might explain why you never got the fungal pellets. I had caught like 15 T. septentrionalis queens one year but the space I was keeping them in was not necessarily sanitary (My research adviser had not set her lab up yet). The queens did okay, but all the fungus succumbed to fungal infections and crashed. 

I did dig up a colony around the time I found these queens so I was able to supplement them with fungus from another colony. This is an exceptionally easy way to get a queen who won't spit up her pellet to found.

Trachymyrmex septentrionalis colonies are really easy to dig up actually. Locate the nest entrance, and dig down at least 60 cm's about 20-30 cm's from the nest entrance. And carefully scrape the soil away, in the direction of the nest entrance. You will find 2-3 chambers, and you will want to quickly transfer them to a temporary nest box. Carefully of course, the fungus is fragile! I have seen their gardens get to be larger than a softball, so be prepared. Collect as many workers as you can. I recommend doing this when the colonies are at their peak size, around July-August. Put them in plaster nests similar to what you see pictured and you should have no trouble as long as they are hydrated well enough. Also, make sure you have food on hand before you dig up a colony. Give them a couple days to settle and recuperate from being transferred then you can start feeding.  

I can provide a list of suitable food to use for their gardens if you need.

-nepenthes

[nepenthes]

There are so many things that can go wrong, but there is a really good article you should read on the care!

https://www.research...rmicinae_Attini

[Martialis]

That list sounds nice. May I see it? I'm hoping to find Trachymyrmex myself. They're supposedly native to my state of Indiana.

Edited by Martialis, March 16 2017 - 6:34 PM.

[Flame.Hyped]

Can you give information on the setup you keep trachymyrmex in? They're native to my area but I haven't seen them. Also I'm curious as to what you mean by pine barrens, as I've heard they nest in both pine barrens and sandy environments. Thanks in advance

[TennesseeAnts]

That list sounds nice. May I see it? I'm hoping to find Trachymyrmex myself. They're supposedly native to my state of Indiana.

I don't know if you're still interested after 4 years, but mine prefer rose petals, Rice cereal, oak catkins, oak leaves, betta fish pellets and Oxalis sp. leaves and flowers, among other things. They don't really take any dry leaves/petals, but will readily cut up and cultivate their fungus with fresh ones.

Edited by TennesseeAnts, May 12 2021 - 11:40 AM.