107 replies to this topic

[nurbs]

Very cool colony and great pics. Never had much knowledge on Colobopsis til I stumbled onto a C. yogi last week, which has similar face structure, but not as extreme. Since then been reading up a lot on them.

 

Those eggs are crazy!

[Aaron567]

March 25, 2018

 

There are about 3 eggs, 10 larvae, and one pupa now. Making progress! I expect them to get majors this year if all goes well.

 

Edited by Aaron567, June 1 2018 - 7:24 AM.

[Mettcollsuss]

So I know Colobopsis impressa is native to Illinois, but I haven't seen any. What habitats/time of day/weather is best to look for them?

 

EDIT: Also, I love the coloration of the queen's gaster and their elongated eggs. Definitely an awesome species!

Edited by Mettcollsuss, March 25 2018 - 5:07 PM.

[Aaron567]

So I know Colobopsis impressa is native to Illinois, but I haven't seen any. What habitats/time of day/weather is best to look for them?

 

EDIT: Also, I love the coloration of the queen's gaster and their elongated eggs. Definitely an awesome species!

 

I find Colobopsis queens at night in very large numbers around May/June. Just after sunset around these months, it is usually above 75 degrees, so they can fly every night for weeks at a time. I only see the colonies in forested and undisturbed areas. 

[BMM]

I caught my queen in early June in a very lightly wooded suburban area. It was well after sunset and she was sitting under a streetlight. She was the only one I saw though, and I've never seen a colony of them, so they're probably rare here.

 

Also, congrats on the colony growth. You must be doing something right because mine definitely aren't developing this fast. What temperature are you keeping them at and what are you feeding them?

[Aaron567]

I caught my queen in early June in a very lightly wooded suburban area. It was well after sunset and she was sitting under a streetlight. She was the only one I saw though, and I've never seen a colony of them, so they're probably rare here.

 

Also, congrats on the colony growth. You must be doing something right because mine definitely aren't developing this fast. What temperature are you keeping them at and what are you feeding them?

 

I feed them crickets, mealworms, and sugar water. They are being kept at 81-83 degrees.

[VoidElecent]

Very impressive!

 

See what I did there? 

[Ferox_Formicae]

I just caught a queen last night, and I also caught a male just for good measures, and this journal has been really informative.

[MegaMyrmex]

Very impressive!

See what I did there?

Nice!
I found a queenless colony, probably a satellite nest, in an old hollowed out twig. I find lots of cool ants in old, hollowed out branches actually. I found 3 C. subbarbatus colonies with aueens, 2 C. subbarabrus colonies, 2 vollenhovia emeryi colonies, 4 temnothorax, and lots of strumigenys.

[YsTheAnt]

Six legged turtles that plug up their holes with heads, poop noodles that turn into more turtles, and have multi sized turtles. Awesome species, so jealous!

[Aaron567]

June 1, 2018

 

The first major worker pupa has appeared.

 

 

The colony still has around 13-14 workers. New workers do keep eclosing, but old workers also keep dying off. Even though the queen is always fat, (once she got fat, she never went back) I still have not seen an increase in egg production, and right now they have less than 5 eggs. There are around 17 larvae, though, so I am looking forward finally seeing a major increase in the worker count soon. 

 

I am going to give them a larger outworld soon, and I will always keep a piece of vinyl tubing at the entrance to hopefully observe the phragmosis (blocking the entrance with their face) behavior of the major worker that will come soon.

 

[Aaron567]

June 11, 2018

 

First major just hatched today!

 

 

I think she is a little smaller than I expected her to be, based off of how large her pupa seemed. She is only the first one, though, so they will get larger. She is about 4 millimeters.

 

Here she is compared to the queen and a minor worker.

 

 

At the same time this first major hatched, another major pupa appeared.

 

[Major]

Any update on the turtles?

[AntsMaryland]

Now I really want to catch a queen of this genus... oh well, next year.

[neoponera]

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppddddddddddddddddddddddddddddaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Aaron567]

November 7, 2018

 

Over these past 5 months, the queen stopped laying eggs and old workers all died. The whole colony including the queen are now dead.

 

I was so confident in this colony that I didn't even catch any Colobopsis impressa queens this year. Their flights are huge so it'll certainly be easy to restart next year. Next time I will actually be smart and raise multiple colonies at the same time until I get at least one that is established. 

[neoponera]

saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddddddddddd update

 

 

(too lazy to do it again)

[TennesseeAnts]

I can't find any Colobopsis where I live. Any suggestions?

[Ferox_Formicae]

I can't find any Colobopsis where I live. Any suggestions?

I always find their colonies inside of hollowed out twigs. Most of the time I see Pseudomyrmex and Crematogaster however. Look for entrance holes inside of twigs with a perfectly circular opening, and with no leaves on it. An oval hole is usually a sign of Pseudomyrmex. Unfortunately, most of the nests I have seen have been satellite nests, with the exception of two.

[TennesseeAnts]

Ok, thanks. I have seen mostly Crematogaster and Ponera in hollow twigs.