4 replies to this topic

[skocko76]

Hi all.

It is common knowledge that Messor barbarus seem to be especially susceptible to vibration stress.

But, I am confused. Observing their colonies in urban environment, they seem to be thriving the most in areas with a lot of traffic.

The main variable seems to be abundance of food. Near my workplace, there is a bus stop with busses waiting in neutral, people waiting for a bus, a crossroad with a lot of traffic and a parking lot. Right in between that is a narrow (3ft wide) strip of platanus trees, between the road and pavement. They produce seeds that the ants seem to eat with gusto. Right underneath the trees, there are huge colonies.

I observed similar thing near the recreational zone in my town; Near parking lots and restaurants, there are huge colonies of Messor barbarus. As you walk further into the park, they get fewer and get pushed out by Crematogaster scutellaris , seems like.

Anyone has similar experience?

As a species that likes peace and quiet, they seem awfully dependent on proximity of humans. 

[Jonathan21700]

There is a very big difference between captive and wild colonies they would probably feel much more secure deep in the ground than in a formicarium which is exposed to all sounds and vibrations. But yes it's crazy whit them. I remember that my M. structor colony would just freak out and all of them start caring brood, the queen would go out in the outworld and all that because of just a few gentle taps on their outworld. Strange the colony I have now doesn't really do this at least not to such extent.

Edited by Jonathan21700, August 2 2017 - 1:32 PM.

[AndersT]

I think it's very different from colony to colony. I've had Messor barbarus as well, and they never really seemed to care about vibrations. 

[skocko76]

I have a small Messor barbarus colony of 15-20 workers, still in a test tube setup. They are sensitive and freak out when I feed them. But they calm down as soon as they find food 😁 Workers seem more startled, carrying brood, but the queen has adventurous spirit. She's a nosy one, always coming to the entrance of the tube to check out what's going on. I don't think she freaks out as she often is the first on the food. One time I had to plug the test tube with my finger to prevent her to get out. She investigated it, climbed on the tip, and started cleaning herself 😂 I had to wait until she was done.

[skocko76]

Also, they really like honey-water, yet my Lasius niger colony does not. Talk about colony-personality.