12 replies to this topic

[JohnTX]

I'm a month into this hobby so get excited by evening thunderstorms, and we had heavy rains in north Texas last night so I couldn't wait to get out this morning.  Things dried out about 10am so I headed to my backyard to see if I could get lucky.  Immediately upon exiting onto the patio I am hit in the face by two queens.  I look down at the ground and see a handful of queens roaming around, some with males still attached and being dragged behind them.  As I bent down to collect a few, more start dropping to the ground around me, most with males along for the ride.  

 

I collected about 16 total.  As a beginner I didn't intend to start with this many, but it was literally raining queens and I couldn't help my self.    Fortunately the test tube setups will give me time to figure out what to do next.

 

 

 

 

Some were collected with the males attached.

 

 

I exhausted my stock of tubes to give them homes (waited on paired ants to separate first.).

 

 

 

All of the coupled pairs eventually separated. (Wish I could post the video I have of two doing their thing then parting).

The queens have settled in well and most had taken their wings off within the hour.  

I'm not sure what they are, but guessing Tetramorium.  All are about 6mm.  I'll do a proper ID thread in the other forum.  

 

 

 

 

Edited by JohnTX, July 24 2017 - 11:17 AM.

[Connectimyrmex]

Nice queens! They aren't Tetramorium. I think that they're Crematogaster.

[ctantkeeper]

I am 90% sure that these are either of the genus Monomorium or Solenopsis. I am leaning a bit more towards Monomorium though. If this is the case, a large percentage of Monomorium species are polygyne, so a proper ID and a bit of luck may allow you to create a polygyne colony. this will allow you to conserve your test tubes and to keep all of your queens, while minimizing your work load in the process.

Edited by ctantkeeper, July 24 2017 - 11:55 AM.

[JohnTX]

I am 90% sure that these are either of the genus Monomorium or Solenopsis. I am leaning a bit more towards Monomorium though. If this is the case, a large percentage of Monomorium species are polygyne, so a proper ID and a bit of luck may allow you to create a polygyne colony. this will allow you to conserve your test tubes and to keep all of your queens, while minimizing your work load in the process.

 

 

Thanks, I'm chilling one down to get some good pictures right now.  Hope to have an ID thread up in a bit.

[sgheaton]

Is there "a thing" they do or is it a simple "they were together, then they aren't?" 

[JohnTX]

Yeah, there was a thing.  The male wrestled his way on top and produced a set of pincers from his gaster and proceeded to pinch her in the gaster repeatedly.  Here's a screenshot from the video.  Once it was done, they sprinted in different directions.

 

[Connectimyrmex]

Those are called "Claspers". They're the male ant's sex organ. They clasp the queen's abdomen.

[Shareallicu]

Wow, awesome!  I wish it would rain some queen ants on me

[sgheaton]

.......... Human males have those things too. Think they are called hands?

 

 

That - is some ... crazy interesting information though. Clasp the queens abdomen? How hard....like...enough that I can see "beaten up backsides" and associate that with "she's good to go?" Piercing that thing to get the baby batter inside, sure.. ... eessssh... 

 

Suuuper awesome pictures though! So super, that three u's are needed. 

[Connectimyrmex]

.......... Human males have those things too. Think they are called hands?

 

 

That - is some ... crazy interesting information though. Clasp the queens abdomen? How hard....like...enough that I can see "beaten up backsides" and associate that with "she's good to go?" Piercing that thing to get the baby batter inside, sure.. ... eessssh... 

that's actually true ;-;

 

They just use the claspers to hold on to the queen's gaster while flying. They grip very lightly.

As Patrick Star once said, "FIRMLY GRASP THE NET!"

Edited by Connectimyrmex, July 25 2017 - 6:08 PM.

[sgheaton]

Suddenly, guys at the bar don't seem nearly as bad as what could happen....

[JohnTX]

I am 90% sure that these are either of the genus Monomorium or Solenopsis. I am leaning a bit more towards Monomorium though. If this is the case, a large percentage of Monomorium species are polygyne, so a proper ID and a bit of luck may allow you to create a polygyne colony. this will allow you to conserve your test tubes and to keep all of your queens, while minimizing your work load in the process.

 

With help from the ID thread I have settled on Monomorium for these.  Based on the suggestion from the comment above I set up two tubes of three queens the first day.  I checked them today and all tubes have eggs in them, with the multi queen setups having larger (single) piles. 

 

Three questions for anyone:

1.  What number of queens is suggested for a Polygyne colony?

2.  Is it too late to consolidate them even more if I wanted to do so?

3.  I worry that these are tiny ants and will eventually need to come up with escape proof formacariums.  I am thinking about the THA inception chambers, which advertise tiny ant compatibility.  Any other suggestions?

 

Thanks!

[sgheaton]

Perhaps silly but do queens become fertile instantly? Once the claspy clasp happens, she can make eggs more-or-less instantly?!