1787 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

Found another Papyrius queen in my backyard this morning, about 8-10mm like the queen I found yesterday at the park yesterday.

Although this one is slightly injured.

 

I moved her to a Iridomyrmex nest, and like with my other queen, they seem to excrete something that has a strong smell... when they encounter other ants

 

Then I noticed that none of the Iridomyrmex ants would actually attack her.... some would grab her and then let go immediately.

Very interesting. Might have something to do with the chemical she sprays, and does lend some weight to her being parasitic.

 

Anyway she eventually crawled into the nest with some prodding

 

I might try putting my queen into my Iridomyrmex setup

Edited by CoolColJ, September 12 2018 - 5:31 PM.

[CoolColJ]

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

Queen 1 - heat cable - 2 nanitics, 5 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's first nanitic has just eclosed
The second one should be also done in an hour or so.
Pretty unusual to have 2 nanitics eclose so close to one another

Edited by CoolColJ, September 12 2018 - 7:40 PM.

[DaveJay]

I've been reading about the Coconut Ant, Papyrius 'nitidus', which is thought to be a complex of similar species, and their symbiosis with the Small Ant-blue Butterfly. Do you think the Papyrius sp. you captured might be in that complex perhaps?

[CoolColJ]

I've been reading about the Coconut Ant, Papyrius 'nitidus', which is thought to be a complex of similar species, and their symbiosis with the Small Ant-blue Butterfly. Do you think the Papyrius sp. you captured might be in that complex perhaps?

First I have heard of this, and I don't know much about this species, so I'm clueless.

I shoved her into the test tube of my Iridomyrmex but she didn't act anything like the one in the wild did.
She was scared and scrambling around and wanted out. I could smell a bit of that chemical smell.
While the Iridomyrmex nanitics ran around and occasionally jabbed at her... had to take her out

Might not be the same species

Probably better to put both setups in the same outworld, and let it play out

Edited by CoolColJ, September 13 2018 - 1:30 AM.

[CoolColJ]

14th September 2018
 

Notoncus sp.  9mm queen

 

RIP - came back from work to see her in the test tube feeding bowl in a dying pose, but her antenna still twitch

I barely knew her...

[CoolColJ]

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

She laid another egg, so 10 total. Plenty for first batch

 

Last night I had to rescue her, she was freaking out trying to get off of the aquarium filter wool that had caught on her mandibles

First I had a put in a small surgical scissors to snip it loose without hurting her, thank goodness I put her in a 20mm test tube!

Then get her onto a barbecue skewer, find and grab the string of wool and pull it off...

Put her back in, slide the cotton double chamber entrance back in and it's all good. She didn't even miss a beat after all that, short term memory

 

 

edit - she laid another 4 eggs!

Edited by CoolColJ, September 13 2018 - 9:51 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Banished Phediole sp. red head/black body 9mm queen - originally a partner of Pheidole Colony A
heatcable
2 Nanitics, 1 pupa, 5 larvae, small clump of eggs

 

Second nanitic has eclosed

 

 

Iridomyrmex - black 8.5mm queen
aquarium filter dam and cotton wool chamber wall/entrance - heat cable
9 nanitics - lots of brood and eggs

 

Lost 8 or so nanitics from escapees and accidental crushing from the cotton wool entrance plug a few days ago

But boy do they develop fast with the heat cable - a few white pupa this morning, a few hours later, light brown, and now dark brown/grey and should eclose tonight!

2 dark brown pupa and 1 light.

They should be back to where they were in a few days time

 

They seem to like raw macadamia nuts, just like my Pheidole

Fed them the dead Noctoncus queen, but they didn't seem to be too interested... suprised me, maybe colony is too young.

Although they did rip some antenna off and placed them next to the larvae...

 

---

 

Gonna head over to the park/bush land to see if I can catch some Aphaenogastor longiceps queens. They should be flying soon at around sunset

Queens look bulky, rather similar to my Pheidole antipodum queen but with a different type of head

Edited by CoolColJ, September 13 2018 - 9:12 PM.

[CoolColJ]

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

She laid another egg, so 10 total. Plenty for first batch

 

Last night I had to rescue her, she was freaking out trying to get off of the aquarium filter wool that had caught on her mandibles

First I had a put in a small surgical scissors to snip it loose without hurting her, thank goodness I put her in a 20mm test tube!

Then get her onto a barbecue skewer, find and grab the string of wool and pull it off...

Put her back in, slide the cotton double chamber entrance back in and it's all good. She didn't even miss a beat after all that, short term memory

 

 

edit - she laid another 4 eggs!

 

 

She got busy today, up to 14 eggs now! LOL make that 15, I just saw her casually curl over and pull another egg out of her gaster tip!

 

23C degree day and a heat cable sitting under her gaster to make it 29-30C degrees under her bum must be to her liking

Edited by CoolColJ, September 13 2018 - 10:06 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Polyrhachis rufifemur 9mm queen
Test tube connected to outworld

No eggs, 1 nanitics, 1 small Camponotus larvae

 

The worker has packed some red dirt chunks at the test tub opening.

First time I've seen her been this active since she eclosed!

Maybe she is old enough to start doing these things, since before the queen did all the work and foraging.

And a few days ago she actually fed on the cricket bit I left as well, before the queen came over to do so as well.

 

Then they dumped the leftovers against the side of the outworld - nice

These ants are not hoarders unlike some of my other ants

[CoolColJ]

That was quick, 2 days later and Pheidole Colony B's second major has pupated already

About 40 workers

 

click to enlarge

major acting as replete

 

 

Pheidole Colony C - 2x Phediole sp. red head/black body 7mm queens - first major larvae is on line. About 20 workers.

I put these 2 queens together myself, and it's nice to see they are still together

 

Edited by CoolColJ, September 14 2018 - 3:40 AM.

[CoolColJ]

15th September 2018

Meat ant queen - Iridomyrmex purpureus 14mm queen
20mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, and cotton double chamber setup - heat cable
4 first instar larvae, 2-4 eggs

She ate a whole bunch of eggs, about half of them, which may have been trophic eggs she laid yesterday
There are 4 hatched eggs already, which she has clumped together, and a few other eggs scattered around against the water dam.

One is on the far left side which she may have forgotten about.
Plus a few pieces of half eaten eggs..
 

She continues to waste a lot of energy trying pull out the bottom part of the water dam, which she also pooped on... I see a blob of green fluid on it.

Unlike cotton, aquarium filter wool does not give, and is quite coarse and thick.

 

edit - I just watched her curl over pull out a bubble of fluid from her gaster tip and place it on the water dam and pad it down, they did not look like eggs, so I think they maybe poop fluid or something similar....

She did this twice back to back.

Edited by CoolColJ, September 14 2018 - 4:27 PM.

[CoolColJ]

really warm day today - so I expected Rhytidoponera to fly but I was too lazy to get out during the day to go anting, plus the heat and sleepiness made me nap.

 

I woke up just before sunset, so I decided to go hunting for Aphenogaster longiceps as they fly in Spring around sunset

 

Welp didn't see any A.longiceps activity, but on the way back to the car I found a few Rhytidoponera nests, easier in the dark under torchlight with workers scurrying around

And a nest of those strobe moving Iridomyrmex ants.

 

Then I decided to look at the Iridomyrmex nest at the car park, and I saw a long black Rhytidoponera walking nearby, and I knew it was a queen!

Put her in a test tube and saw wing scars on the jewellers loupe - bag one queen! She has red legs as well and about 8mm.

She seems thirsty, as she licked the wet cotton in the temporary petri dish I put her in

Might go back later to hunt for nocturnal queens under these big lights over the tennis court on the edge of bushland

Edited by CoolColJ, September 15 2018 - 12:41 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Pics of the Rhytidoponera queen

 

click to enlarge

 

[CoolColJ]

Those 9 Iridomyrmex queens I have in a 20mm test tube -

4 have laid eggs, one has a big clump and 3 others with smaller piles.
But they are all separate from each other, one keeps hers at the top of the water dam.
The one with the big pile in front of the of the water dam, while the 2 others tend to carry their batch around with them.

I think I might leave the test tube outside and open it and see which queens want to leave


edit - LOL I just saw the queen up top, go down and steal a clump from the big pile, and go back up to add to her clump

Edited by CoolColJ, September 15 2018 - 5:05 PM.

[CoolColJ]

16th September 2018

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

She laid more, had 9 yesterday, and now back down to 5.
Sigh, she keeps messing around with the water dam wool, so all that energy expended needs to be fueled by eating some eggs I guess

 

 

Rhytidoponera cf aspera queen

16mm Test tube with aquarium filter wool dam, and cotton double chamber setup

 

Been keeping her in a sealed test tube with a 3D printed test tube feeding bowl with raw honey and a cricket bit.

Just to get her used to it as her home, and then after a few days open it up inside a tube and tubes setup

 

She's been getting comfy and has been pretty calm.

Seeing her check out her gaster tip.

[CoolColJ]

17th September 2018

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

Ugh down to 4 eggs and I see a half eaten egg...
I think I will move her into a fresh test tube with a cotton dam, as the aquarium filter wool seems to be bothering her.
More to do with the fact she can't pull and shape it to how she wants, and is spending a lot of energy doing so.
Which probably needs food in return to refuel

Or the other option is to kick out my C.suffusus workers who don't have much to live for without a queen, and put her in the Atom C nest.

[CoolColJ]

Caught her in the act of laying an egg!
You can see some half eaten eggs... so she is laying and eating them over and over..
 
click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, September 17 2018 - 2:50 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Pics of my Papyrius queen I captured last week -
So these are parasitic and only need foreign workers to start up a colony, or so I read.
I only need to give her some workers - which I guess could either come from my Iridomyrmex colony or even that wild Papyrius colony
So, they say that it would help to first give her some dead workers to capture the colony scent, before contact with the captured workers.
Then some pupa to ensure she gets her own brood up before they die - which would rule out a wild colony. 
 
click to enlarge

[DaveJay]

Where are you reading that they are parasitic? All I find is the symbiosis relationship with the butterfly mentioned.

[CoolColJ]

Where are you reading that they are parasitic? All I find is the symbiosis relationship with the butterfly mentioned.

I have people discussing it with me on Facebook.
Plus no one has ever raised one successfully with either claustral style (small gaster means no anyway) or semi-claustral.
She needs workers for some reason.

Edited by CoolColJ, September 17 2018 - 3:49 AM.