1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

Queens will be a long shot, another similar species has wingless queens, so that will makes things twice as hard....

I also saw some Polyrhachis hookeri today. Since they were green I thought it was Rhytidoponera metallica at first!
Some of them were sapphire blue

I wouldn't mind keeping these....

 

Edited by CoolColJ, September 9 2018 - 6:29 AM.

[DaveJay]

I thought of them when you mentioned the other species having the coloured thorax and head, ants everything has them listed but as "sold out". I assume it might be one they usually carry or they'd delete the listing, maybe not.

[CoolColJ]

I thought of them when you mentioned the other species having the coloured thorax and head, ants everything has them listed but as "sold out". I assume it might be one they usually carry or they'd delete the listing, maybe not.

 

 

He might have some, but without eggs, so he won't list them till they do.

And he will most likely have some when they are in season, but they usually sell out quickly since there is not that much stock

[CoolColJ]

Spring 10th September 2018
 
Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, and cotton double chamber setup - heat cable
1 egg

Ugh, I only see 1 egg now, so unless she has hid them somewhere, I'll assume she ate 7 of them...

She has pulled, and is still pulling the filter wool at the bottom of the test tube out to make a carpet of sorts.
I noticed she did this in the original cotton dam test tube she was in as well
Looks like she wants some substrate, but aquarium filter wool is a lot tougher than cotton, and won't mold


---

Iridomyrmex colony outside in my backyard is going nuts, preparing to fly!

https://www.instagra.../p/Bnh6Gy7gkju/

Gonna head out to the bush trail nearby and see if I can find any queens

Edited by CoolColJ, September 10 2018 - 3:36 AM.

[DaveJay]

I'm hoping for flights today too, we had rain a couple of days ago and now the first day over 20c since winter began. I keep thinking I see alates flying but there's none to be seen on the ground anywhere, maybe they'll fly late afternoon/dusk, 3.20pm atm.
The ants around the yard have only been active for a few days but I did see an alate in a friends garden last week. I've been cruising the likely places as I drive around ever since but no sitings yet.
Good luck around your place!

[CoolColJ]

My meat ant queen laid another 2 eggs... so I guess she decided to redo things and eat the others, and start a new batch.... OCD queen

--

A captured a Polyrhachis hookeri worker for a pic. This one seems to have a blue head, green thorax and gold bum to the naked eye in the sun.
I found their nest - in a crack inbetween a road and concrete edge - that slopes down to a water tank on the edge of bushland - I marked it for future reference Workers were dragging stuff to cover the entrance after I cleared it out
Plenty of other Polyrhachis in the area, foraging on the road or side of it. Nice and warm I guess, plus Rhytidoponera


While I was here I saw a golden tail sugar ant worker - first time in person in this area, add another species to the list here!
I also came across a nest of red honey coloured head and thorax Iridomyrmex - very cool, similar colour to Aphaenogaster longiceps in the top half. Similar size as well

I don't think my backyard colony flew.
Saw a lot of Rhytidoponera workers out and about, green and multicolured ones, quite large, but I captured all and examined with jewellers loupe and all are workers.
I turned over a rock and saw a Rhytidoponera nest with alate, so they haven't flown here yet. I reckon Weds and Thursday which will hit 25-27 degrees celcius

Edited by CoolColJ, September 10 2018 - 2:34 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen - originally a partner of Pheidole Colony A
heatcable
1 Nanitic, 2 pupa, small clump of larvae

She's officially a colony, nanitic eclosed last night

Edited by CoolColJ, September 10 2018 - 2:32 PM.

[CoolColJ]

LOL I think I found a queen in my frontyard garden, maybe Notoncus...
I was looking at the area I released a small Iridomyrmex queen last night and noticed a 1cm sized black ant entering a small hole and then reversing out, rushed to my car to grab a capture vial...
and she is now in a test tube, with a double chamber setup that housed the Iridomyrmex queen I released last night

Will confirm ID later

Edited by CoolColJ, September 10 2018 - 9:43 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Some quick pics - will try and get her outside for a better pic. Notoncus? Definitely a queen due to ocelli on head and wing scars

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, September 10 2018 - 10:53 PM.

[Leo]

lol, I saw this on facebook.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 11th September 2018


Pheidole sp, light red head, dark red body, 6-7mm

Queen 1 - heat cable - 7 pupa. big clump of brood, over 20, some small and medium larvae
double chamber setup, exposed to light

Queen 2 - heat cable - 3 large larvae, 4 first instar larvae?
I have her in my double test tube modded setup, with a polystyrene foam chamber entrance
in red test tube rack

Queen 1 has will have her first nanitic soon, maybe tommorrow?
Some brown pupa, and about 7 pupa now.




Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen - originally a partner of Pheidole Colony A
heatcable
1 Nanitic, 2 pupa, small clump of larvae

second nanitic not far off, brown one under queen
 

 
 
Pheidole sp. red, dark gaster 7mm queen
cotton double chamber setup - heat cable
4 nanitics -  2 pupa , 30+ brood

add 2 more nanitics, 2 more pupa left and a ton of brood to come

I used to think this queen that I found on the windscreen of my car at work, was a different species to the 2 other red ones above, found in my backyard under bricks.
But now I'm not so sure... but when majors arrive then I'll know.
Will only keep 1 red species in any case.

[CoolColJ]

definitely noticed an uptick in the 3 main Pheidole colonies as far as brood density goes, since Spring hit


Pheidole Colony A - Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen
heatcable

33+ workers

The brood pile is back, lots of larvae, big stack of eggs and a major larvae - they must have eaten the first major pupa the last time around during winter...

click to enlarge


 
Pheidole Colony B - Pheidole sp, all black 8mm queen
 heatcable
Just under 40 workers. 1 Major. 1 major larvae

All the pupa eclosing has thinned the brood pile, but look at those 2 stacks of eggs!
The second major larvae has started pupating




Pheidole Colony C - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 7mm queens
heatcable
15 workers - lots of brood

Nice to see both queens still together
Newly eclosed worker is already put to nursing duties
3 Pupa to eclose tomorrow, and still lots of pupa inline, and a big stack of eggs
The rest of the brood is on the cotton, plus the first major larvae



 
Iridomyrmex - black 8.5mm queen
aquarium filter dam and cotton wool chamber wall/entrance - heat cable
18 nanitics

man these girls are just exploding, and look at all the eggs lined up already. The whole assembly line is already organised into neat areas
Still not sure about keeping these... kinda boring, but I like the way they move, so fast and erratic!
And they are always active

Edited by CoolColJ, September 11 2018 - 5:16 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Spring 12th September 2018

getting ready for a big day of flights here, since it will be really warm all day


Melophorus sp.colony -  red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube, connected to outworld - heatcable
1 minor worker, 2 eggs, 7 second instar larvae
 
Zing, she laid another 2 white eggs! and I see a clump of 7 small yellow larvae

I saw one white egg lying on the test tube last night, and I see another behind the queen's gaster, so she must have laid it earlier

Saw the worker feed her last night, so this is the result

The only thing that concerns me is the cricket bit the worker dragged up and left against the moist gypsum plug for the refillable test tube....
She has put dirt against it, and even though it's pretty dried out, it still might mold from the moisture...

The last few cricket bits she dragged out of the nest when she was done with it, not sure why she decided not to do it with this one

 

Edited by CoolColJ, September 11 2018 - 4:52 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I went to the park/bush area nearby at around 11:15 am, and Iridomyrmex nests were forming and started to fly at 11:30, I caught about 6 then since they landed and started to run around a few metres near the nests.

 

I keep going and found a Rhytidoponera drone, but nothing else... it was just wandering down the road... I guess he missed out as well.

 

Came across Dolichoderus clarki 2x2 tandum foraging at midday, so they don't mind a bit of heat

 

Wandered around some more and around 1pm I found more Iridomyrmex queens running around on the road, captured 6 more for 12 total and called it a day.

 

Then I found a red 8-10mm long red ant with black gaster... catching it in a plastic test tube and looking at it with my 40x jeweller's loupe showed wing scars

Might be a Papyrius, looks similar to this, will post my pic later

https://www.flickr.c...@N06/5070780604

 

Came back home at 1pm and my home colonies were still forming and haven't flown... too windy now...

 

I found a colony of these workers, yesterday nearby, Papyrius queen might have come from here.

about 6mm

Edited by CoolColJ, September 11 2018 - 7:33 PM.

[DaveJay]

Nice! What size are the Iridomyrmex?

[CoolColJ]

So apparently not many people have raised a Papyrius queen successfully, get them to lay eggs. They might be parasitic...

Nice! What size are the Iridomyrmex?

 

 

7-8mm so smaller than my current one, but the workers at the flight sites seem decent sized around 5+mm

 

I have all 12 in the same container now, no fights. I mean all of them are from the same area, and even nests

Edited by CoolColJ, September 11 2018 - 8:19 PM.

[DaveJay]

True, but how long will the peace last once they start laying?

The Papyrius sounds interesting, if they're from the same area perhaps they parasite the Iridomyrmex species you found? It might be worth giving her some brood later and seeing what happens?

[CoolColJ]

True, but how long will the peace last once they start laying?

The Papyrius sounds interesting, if they're from the same area perhaps they parasite the Iridomyrmex species you found? It might be worth giving her some brood later and seeing what happens?

 

 

Queens get killed after enough workers arrive, but it's a quick way to get a colony up and running, and they are so common, life is cheap

 

Yeah I might give some brood from my current Iridomyrmex queen and see how it goes. These Irido pupa eclose so fast, so I should have an answer real quick

At very least she will have some protein

[CoolColJ]

Spring 13th September 2018


Melophorus sp.colony -  red black 6-7mm queen
refillable gypsum plugged test tube, connected to outworld - heatcable
1 minor worker, 2 eggs, 7 second instar larvae
 
Ugh, my worst fears have been confirmed, that cricket piece left against the gypsum block has started to sprout hairy mold!
To make matters worse, there is an egg nearby that seems to have been abandoned, as the worker and queen are on the open end of the test tube...

Not sure how I will proceed, but obviously I need to clean the cricket piece out.
I have no choice but to move the ants to spare test tube of the same design, while somehow getting the brood out safely as well
They ahve placed the brood near the heat cbale, so I think if I move the heat cable right near the open end where the queen and worker is they will move the brood there for easy access

Once again, I will leave all food outside from now on!

Edited by CoolColJ, September 12 2018 - 1:43 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I used a barbecue skewer to remove the moldy cricket bit from the Melophorus test tube, but there was still some icky fluid on the gypsum plug.
So in the end I dumped them out, and manually moved the brood to the new tube nest with a wet cotton bud, and put them into it.
They found and carried 3 of the 9 brood to the gypsum plugged end of the tube, but the other 6 remain towards the entrance... hope they find them...
 
edit - worker found and gathered all the brood together


Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, and cotton double chamber setup - heat cable
9 eggs

Good news, she laid another 4 eggs last night, so we are back on track, but there are 2 eggs sitting behind her, which I'm not sure she is aware of...
 
edit - she laid 6 eggs today, so 9 eggs now!


Pheidole cf antipodum 15mm queen
in magnetic glass top gypsum founding nest

32+ brood

I saw the brood stuck on the top of her gaster in two separate clumps.
Later on she managed to remove them and things were back to normal.
Maybe she does this on purpose, as she seems to be aware they are there and removed them, and get things back to normal
 
Brood looks bigger, maybe second instar sized larvae now, but still pretty slow going, since it's been a 7 weeks since the first 3 eggs have been laid.
Her nest is not heated, though which would help the speed, but I'm scared it might cause condensation over the whole thing...
 
Yesterday I measured the humidity in the nest and it had dropped to 60%...!
I hadn't watered in a couple of weeks, so I immediately squirted 1 full syringe worth of water on cotton blocking the nearest port to her, and cotton glove finger covered cotton stuffed hydration thing I installed in another port.
It took about 30mins before it reached 80%, and then a bit later 98% humidity after I squirted some more water.
 
Queen noticed it and seemed to be trying to drink the water that had wicked between the glass and the nest
 
 
---
 
I put the 12 Iridomyrmex queens I captured yesterday into a 20mm test tube.
 
After a while I noticed a few queens that were aggressive to the others, so I took out 3 and released them.
The rest seem to be docile and friendly to each other.
 
I still may release the lot, we shall see.

Edited by CoolColJ, September 12 2018 - 7:51 PM.