5 replies to this topic

[Connectimyrmex]

I decided to make a new journal for one of my newest colonies. Here it is!

 

About two weeks ago I found a confused Lasius umbratus queen sprinting across a tennis court amongst hundreds of dead males of the same species. She had a Tetramorium nanitic attached to her antennae. After removing the little worker, the queen calmed down very fast. I put her in a tube after tennis practice with a drop of honey, which she happily devoured. She stayed in that tube for four days, patiently waiting for her first host workers. After flipping hundreds of rocks and logs, I gave up on searching for the correct host species. I gently removed her from the little burrow she excavated in the cotton and placed her in a Lasius nearcticus tube with seven brood boosted callow workers and an artificially inseminated queen. After a few minutes, I realized that I had completely forgot to remove the AI queen! Surprisingly, rather than seeing corpses in the little tube, I found the Lasius umbratus queen snuggled up under the Lasius nearcticus queen (I've observed this behavior with L. murphyi, which tends to be one of the more docile species) . Both queens lived together for a day, until I removed the nearcticus queen. The L. umbratus queen, which laid one egg yesterday, is being constantly tended by her seven workers. 

I will (try to) update this journal as much as possible!

Also, do you think that I should find more Lasius callows/pupae to put in the tube?

[AntsMaryland]

If she is laying eggs than you are fine. That is really neat. I want to catch that species and try it out for myself. Please keep us updated. Have fun and good luck! Best Regards!

 

-AntsMaryland

[Connectimyrmex]

I moved the colony into my ant terrarium (2.5 gal, with 1 cricket, some myrmecophile springtails, several pillbugs, a spotted wintergreen plant, a pine tree seedling, a wood sorrel plant, and a Camponotus chromaiodes colony). So far, they've had no trouble with their Carpenter ant neighbors. The lasius colony sealed themselves underground, though. Should I go out and find some root mealybugs for them?

[ctantkeeper]

This is awesome!!! I'm wondering what might have happened if you left the AI queen in the test tube though...

[Batspiderfish]

Lasius umbratus would have killed the queen eventually.

[Connectimyrmex]

This is awesome!!! I'm wondering what might have happened if you left the AI queen in the test tube though

 

Lasius umbratus would have killed the queen eventually.

 

Yeah, it probably would have. It was just nice to see some friendly interaction, though.