23 replies to this topic

[Gregory2455]

Ok, I do not even know if this is a bacteria, it may be some slime mold or something, I have not examined any under my microscope, but what is this stuff?! At first it was just growing in the water of the test tubes and the substrate in my Acromyrmex versicolor test tubes.

 

Now look what it is growing on! 

 

My infertile Myrmecocystus sp. has pink eggs!!! WHY! 

 

WHAT IS THIS STUFF?! 

[dspdrew]

Wow that is really bizarre. I don't have a clue what that is. Maybe keep it under some fluorescent lights and see what happens.

[Tpro4]

i don't think that is bacteria, it might be fungus the bad kind.

[Gregory2455]

As far as I have seen, it does not hurt the ants, instead it is some kind of decomposer or something. It is slimy, and does not grow hairs.

[dermy]

It looks like some sort of fungus or cotton candy like substance.

[Gregory2455]

How do you ID a fungus? Doesn't a fungus need to be hairy? This is not, it is slimy like a bacteria or slime mold. At least it cannot hurt the adult ants, as of what I have seen.

[dean_k]

Fungus invasion, giant ants, and annihilation of Mankind. It all began in some dude's ant tube....

 

J/K

[Gregory2455]

I doubt this is a fungus.

[dspdrew]

How do you ID a fungus? Doesn't a fungus need to be hairy? This is not, it is slimy like a bacteria or slime mold. At least it cannot hurt the adult ants, as of what I have seen.

Slime mold is slimy and a fungus.

 

Edit: I was wrong; Myrmicinae is right.

 

From Wikipedia: "Slime molds were formerly classified as fungi but are no longer considered part of this kingdom.^[1] Although not related to one another, they are still sometimes grouped for convenience within the paraphyletic group referred to as kingdom Protista."

 

Here's some that started growing in my worm bin.

 

[Gregory2455]

Maybe Pogoqueen would know what the heck this is?

[PogoQueen]

Very cool! If you have a microscope will 1000x magnification it would go a long way to helping you identify if its bacterial or fungal. Not all fungi are "hairy", yeast are also considered a fungus. The biggest problem here is I have seen both pink yeasts and pink/red bacteria grown in the lab. So even though I could tell you that it is possibly a bacteria named Serratia marcescens, I could also just as easily say it is a yeast called Rhodotorula rubra. If you could give me more information I could tell you exactly what it is. Good luck and keep posting pictures!

[Gregory2455]

Great! I do not have nearly as good of a microscope as that (I think, but we will see. ), but I will get a couple pictures of it. 

[Gregory2455]

Slime mold is slimy and a fungus.

Sorry! Forgot for some reason that Fungi was a Kingdom and not just an English word for fuzzy colonies of single cell organisms!

[Gregory2455]

Also, what should this be called for now? Bacteria? Fungus? Organism?

[Mathiacus]

Curse.

[dean_k]

I am telling you. This is going to be the end of mankind. It all begins from his mysterious ant tube.

[Gregory2455]

I have no idea what it can be. It has an almost crystalline looking structure under a microscope, but I really have no clue what to look for.

[Myrmicinae]

Sorry! Forgot for some reason that Fungi was a Kingdom and not just an English word for fuzzy colonies of single cell organisms!

 

Slime molds are actually in the Kingdom Protista and are not fungi.  Also, most fungi (excluding yeasts) are multicellular.

 

I have no idea what you have in your tube though.  It looks like it could be yeast, but I don't know much about this sort of thing.

Edited by Myrmicinae, October 22 2014 - 9:23 AM.

[Gregory2455]

Well, guess what happened today. I checked on my test tubed queens today, and guess what I saw? My last Camponotus cf. semitestaceus queen- standing in a lifelike position- dead. And guess what color she was? She was turning pink from the inside-out!

[Mathiacus]

Creepy.