31 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

7-28-2013
 
I found this Crematogaster queen on July 12th 2013, in Trabuco Canyon, Southern California, wandering in a dry riverbed just after dark. At first in the dark it looked to me like some sort of Camponotus, but it was months past their time to fly out in the West. Once I got home, I got a better look and could clearly see it was a myrmicine of some sort. Turns out it's Crematogaster, but I don't know the species; all I know is it's much larger than my other Crematogaster queen, and quite different in color than any other Crematogaster I've seen around here.
Original ID thread: http://antfarm.yuku....94#.UfXSuvUoBOU.



A day or two later it started laying eggs, and now has a nice sized pile of eggs and small larvae.

[dspdrew]

Update 8-8-2013

 

This queen now has her first pupae, and they look to be about the same size as my other Crematogaster queen's workers--so small compared to her size.

[dspdrew]

Update 8-20-2013
 
The queen got her first worker yesterday. Here's a few pictures.
 

 

 

 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Update 9-28-2013

This colony is doing well and seems very healthy. They are now up to 21 workers, and have a good sized pile of brood.
 

 

[dspdrew]

Update 11-30-2013

This colony is still growing, and is now up to about 45 workers.
 

[dspdrew]

Update 2-14-2014

It looks like their test tube is pretty much dry now, so I moved them into a foraging container with a fresh new test tube and a liquid feeder full of humming bird nectar. Their colony now has approximately 65 workers.

[Anthony]

Very nice .

[LAnt]

If you had a formicarium available, would you put them in it yet?

[dspdrew]

Of course.

[Matt]

You have lots of Crematogaster species, I really like this genus. Unfortunately there are only two species in France which are too similar : Crematogaster scutellaris and auberti.

[dspdrew]

They're very similar here too, which is why It's so hard to ID them to the species level.

[Gregory2455]

What happened.

[Gregory2455]

I think these are the ones that I have as well, although mine are even more black... Mine have no brown, they are absolutely jet black and with a polished looking shine.

[dspdrew]

Update 5-21-2015

My main colony continues to shrink, and is now down to 25 workers.
 
One of my newer colonies is up to around 20 or so workers. I moved this new colony into a byFormica GroTube XL about three weeks ago and they've been doing well ever since.
 

 

[Lamarr]

That's a nice looking colony you got there, dspdrew. Would you mind showing me what your outworld looks like also?

[dspdrew]

Update 5-31-2015

My main colony's queen finally died.

 

The colony in the GroTube XL is still doing great and continuing to grow.

[Lamarr]

How is this colony doing now?

[dspdrew]

That's a nice looking colony you got there, dspdrew. Would you mind showing me what your outworld looks like also?

 

Sorry I didn't notice this question last time. The out world is just one of the small byFormica 3D printed ones.

 

 

How is this colony doing now?

 

Still doing well and growing.

[dspdrew]

Update 7-16-2015

Well these are still escaping from the Grotube out world. I find them foraging inside my ant cabinet all the time. I finally just decided to just let them forage where they want. I usually only see one wandering around at a time, the same way I see them in the wild.
 
Today I saw one walking along the bottom of the cabinet, so I decided to try something. I killed a cricket and dropped it in front of the ant. It looked excited for a few seconds, then quickly took off. I walked away for a while to work on other things, and when I came back a couple hours later this is what I found.
 

 
 
That one obviously let the others know about its awesome find. When I looked in the nest, I noticed a few workers in there holding small pieces of the cricket. I also saw one little worker trying to get back inside the out world while carrying one of the cricket's antennae.
 
I guess these will just be my free-range Crematogaster colony for now.

[Gregory2455]

Cute.