27 replies to this topic

[AntsAreUs]

Ok, so I caught this colony in the hollow of a dead branch. Nothing too special so far, just moving under the larger pieces of wood in their setup. I would say they have around 70-80 workers and just as much brood. I don't think any of the pupa are alate pupa but they did have a small pile of eggs which could eventually turn into alates. I have watched them hunt down springtails. They simply approach the springtail slowly after sensing it several millimeters away and then latch on the legs and sting it. After about 10 seconds the springtail is completely immobile and therefor dead as it gets carried back to the colony.

 

I may try and get pictures or videos on the process of hunting some other time. Here is them moving into their setup for now:

 

Edited by AntsAreUs, July 14 2018 - 2:37 PM.

[ponerinecat]

Strumigenys! My favorite! Good luck with these guys.

[AntsAreUs]

Strumigenys! My favorite! Good luck with these guys.

Honestly the main reason I'm keeping them is to find when they get alates. This way I can try and catch queens and attempt the founding of their colonies.

[AnthonyP163]

 

Strumigenys! My favorite! Good luck with these guys.

Honestly the main reason I'm keeping them is to find when they get alates. This way I can try and catch queens and attempt the founding of their colonies.

 

A keeper in Nebraska found a mated queen in March.

[AntsAreUs]

 

 

Strumigenys! My favorite! Good luck with these guys.

Honestly the main reason I'm keeping them is to find when they get alates. This way I can try and catch queens and attempt the founding of their colonies.

 

A keeper in Nebraska found a mated queen in March.

 

Walking around or inside a log or something? I wouldn't be surprised if it was a queen from a previous years flight.

[AnthonyP163]

 

 

 

Strumigenys! My favorite! Good luck with these guys.

Honestly the main reason I'm keeping them is to find when they get alates. This way I can try and catch queens and attempt the founding of their colonies.

 

A keeper in Nebraska found a mated queen in March.

 

Walking around or inside a log or something? I wouldn't be surprised if it was a queen from a previous years flight.

 

He found her in the forest I believe.

[AntsAreUs]

7/1/18

 

These are doing surprisingly great! I didn't see many foraging so I thought something bad happened. I would only assume that they are well fed because of this.

 

Look at all that brood.

[ponerinecat]

So jealous... also, a woman found a virgin queen and several males on her car in fall.

[AntsAreUs]

So jealous... also, a woman found a virgin queen and several males on her car in fall.

Yea, I knew they fly in fall, like most other cryptic forest inhabitants. I just wanted to know exactly when they fly in my area. Such as the last 2 weeks of August for example (not the actual flight time).

[MegaMyrmex]

Arrgghh, so jealous! Good luck thougj, I have yet to find another colony of this genus again...

[AntsAreUs]

I made a small video to show off their foraging habits upon springtails. It is quite amazing to watch and I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I do. Also helps anyone who has looked through documents of Strumigenys to visualize what they were talking about in their foraging habits. Basically they will sense a springtail nearby and very slowly approach them until they are in bite range of their leg or antennae. They may also wait in one spot and wait for a springtail to walk over them in order to snap at them. The whole process may only take about 10-15 seconds and isn't always successful as seen in the video.

 

 

Edited by AntsAreUs, July 11 2018 - 8:58 AM.

[AntsAreUs]

7/19/18

 

They have alate pupa now! They are still laying eggs too I guess. Still doing great.

 

[ponerinecat]

So jealous... they seem to be doing much better than your last try.

[AntsAreUs]

7/30/18

 

As they currently stand, I can confidently say they have over 100 workers now. The queen has been busy laying eggs recently although the workers stand over them so I can't get a good photo. They also have what looks to be a male alate and some more alate pupa.

 

 

Here is the queen finally:

[Zxirl]

Good lord those are some small ants.. Interesting journal as always mate. I'm interested to see what you discover for flight times for them.

[AntsAreUs]

8/1/18

 

I caught a new colony of these ants except it has 3 queens instead of the 1 in my previous colony. I'll be attempting breeding them in captivity but I doubt it will work. Who knows? 

 

Try to spot the queens.

[neoponera]

what about, merging them?

[Leo]

I have to wait till next year for a colony

[TennesseeAnts]

These are everywhere where I live. They are most common in hickory nuts.

[neoponera]

try merging them to double their worker force