7 replies to this topic

[skocko76]

I caught these three beauties a week ago. It was late evening and I stopped at a gas station. I saw hundreds of males on a lit up wall. Among them were these three queens. Their thorax is not very big and I suspect they might be semi-claustral.

 

Can someone id the species for me please? 

 

All of them have layed eggs, but none the three have ripped their wings out. I am afraid I caught them too early and that they're all virgins Time will tell ...

 

[VoidElecent]

Crematogaster cf. schmidti.

Edited by VoidElecent, July 19 2017 - 6:09 AM.

[skocko76]

Thanks VoidElecent!!!

I read that Crematogaster schmidti and Crematogaster scutellaris are allopatric species. I observed Crematogaster scutellaris on the sea line, and cought Crematogaster schmidti some 7 km North.

I can't believe I live on the border of these two, territorially exclusive, species

[Jonathan21700]

Crematogaster sp. indeed but this is not C. schmidti nor C. scutellaris because this queen has a much different head shape. From the other two species listed in Croatia, C.ionia and C. sordidula both have a much different head shape too. As seen from the provided pictures on the internet. C. ionia (Antweb) https://www.antweb.o...shot=h&number=1and C. sordidula http://www.myrmecofo...-reine-4638.jpg. Probably there are more species found in Croatia but have not been recorded so I checked the list for Montenegro and found that the only species whit such head shaped queens from this region is C. lorteti (Antweb)https://www.antweb.o...shot=h&number=1the queen shown here seems to have a lighter coloration than yours but note that the imaged specimen is a subspecies recorded from Greece so their could be variation. Yours could possibly be another species so don't take my word on this very serious. I'm not really informed whit the species on the Adriatic coast. Anyway this is a very interesting species and be sure to post pictures of the workers when they get them! Good luck!

Edited by Jonathan21700, July 20 2017 - 2:19 PM.

[skocko76]

Thanks Jonathan!
I'll be sure to post photos of the workers if I get lucky to get them. The queens still have their wings on, but generally take care of the eggs, which is encouraging. It's most likely they have not been inseminated and I'll get male alates at best.I think the eggs got elongated, so it's possible they're tiny larvae now. It's hard to see. I'll keep posting! 😊

[Jonathan21700]

Usually non mated queens will never lay eggs and will constantly pull the cotton and try to fly again so I'm pretty sure you have mated queens!

[skocko76]

So, I had to leave for two weeks, and in order to keep their nests hydrated, I attached a test tube with water to the two acrylic chambers.

After I returned, one of the queens seems to have tried to move the eggs next to the cotton, but the eggs ended up being scattered. 

Check the photo. There is a weird looking larvae-thing in the middle... does anyone know what it is? It looks like a dead larvae to me..

 

The second queen hasn't moved the egg pile, and it kinda looks like a pile of pupae to me. I cannot see black eye spots on them though.

There are also thread-like things on the pile. Can anyone take a look at the photo and comment on whether it looks healthy?

 

The third queen is in a test test tube setup, in the dark, and I haven't disturbed her. She still has her wings on, as do all of the three.

The test tube is of a smaller variety, plastic, and with very little space between the two cotton plugs, making it hard to see what's going on.

 

 

Edited by skocko76, August 14 2017 - 10:42 AM.

[Jonathan21700]

Those are all larvae.