173 replies to this topic

[DaveJay]

I gave all 4 colonies a piece of peanut, apple and strawberry each and in the C. consobrinus colony 2 formicarium the peanut bounced, landed in the nest entrance (still under construction), dropped the apple piece, bounced, into the entrance on top of the peanut piece!
I could grab the apple easily with the tongs but I didn't trust that I wouldn't just push the peanut in further, hard to be too precise laying in bed.
8 workers should be able to move it though.

Edit - it took them about the same amount of time as I took to type.

- When I started typing the edit one was struggling to move the piece by itself, I look back and it's in the hole again with others struggling to get it out again, wth?

Edited by DaveJay, August 21 2018 - 8:00 AM.

[DaveJay]

On another note, I was looking at Mark Newtons' new site, Wild South Australia and I saw he had pictures of Strobe Ants taken in the S.A. Riverland. When I looked them up online previously their distribution was all Queensland and N.T.
They're on my wish list but out of stock everywhere I've looked and asked. We're moving to the Riverland soon, hopefully by Christmas so if I'm lucky I might be in time for a flight.
There's quite a few good looking ants on his site I'm looking forward to being his neighbour! (Of sorts, I know I'll probably be about hour away but still the same region)
I might send him an email and see if he has any Queen Ants, he was supposed to drop off some scorpions, or me pick them up but we've never really got around to a date, the area was flooded when I was going to pick them up so he said I wouldn't get through to his place and we never made other arrangements.

[CoolColJ]

Strobe ants don't fly till January usually, so your looking at next year
But they can fly early sometimes, if weather conditions are right or when spring hits

You might even find the larger species, Opisthopsis picta, still orange, but with a different black pattern

[Trythis22]

When you have 50+ scorpions, 30+ tarantulas, centipedes, beetles, multiple fish tanks, frogs, lizards, tortoises, chickens, dogs, cats, kids and a wife, a few extra ants don't seem like a problem!

 

The wife requires more work than all the animals you listed, combined. Unless you hit the jackpot... but that's a myth. 

 

Been looking at this thread now and again, great pictures by the way. The ants in Australia seem much more exciting than the ones available where I live. I have some weird ideas for feeder contraptions but I would love to see how yours work out in the long term. Maybe gluing the substrate together would prevent the pileup and subsequent draining of the feeder? It's crazy how the ants build a mound to reach their food more easily - that's long term planning. 

 

[CoolColJ]

that Camponotus sp. "Cairns" looks like C.humilior to me

It does to me too, at least it looks like pictures of C. humilior I've seen. There must be some differences that makes Paul question it though, I'm assuming he knows his ants.
 
For others, this is one of the pictures from the advertisement I purchased from, not my picture.
The Queen I have looks much like this but this picture does not do justice to the richness or variation in the brown colouring she has.

Camponotus humilior for sure

[DaveJay]

 

When you have 50+ scorpions, 30+ tarantulas, centipedes, beetles, multiple fish tanks, frogs, lizards, tortoises, chickens, dogs, cats, kids and a wife, a few extra ants don't seem like a problem!

 

The wife requires more work than all the animals you listed, combined. Unless you hit the jackpot... but that's a myth. 

 

Been looking at this thread now and again, great pictures by the way. The ants in Australia seem much more exciting than the ones available where I live. I have some weird ideas for feeder contraptions but I would love to see how yours work out in the long term. Maybe gluing the substrate together would prevent the pileup and subsequent draining of the feeder? It's crazy how the ants build a mound to reach their food more easily - that's long term planning. 

 

 

 

Actually, as I suspected they were sticking bits on that then fell. I saw this one night....

(Ignore the dry substrate in the dish, they buried a mealworm before addressing the feeder)

 

 

And then this two nights later....

 

Bumheads!

 

 

 

 

that Camponotus sp. "Cairns" looks like C.humilior to me

It does to me too, at least it looks like pictures of C. humilior I've seen. There must be some differences that makes Paul question it though, I'm assuming he knows his ants.
 
For others, this is one of the pictures from the advertisement I purchased from, not my picture.
The Queen I have looks much like this but this picture does not do justice to the richness or variation in the brown colouring she has.

 

Camponotus humilior for sure

 

Yep, when I get home I'll get pics to compare and see if I can spot any differences while looking at the video.

Edited by DaveJay, August 26 2018 - 3:05 AM.

[CoolColJ]

apparently the Camponotus from Cairns is smaller than C.humilior... which would make it one of the smallest Camponotus ever...

[CoolColJ]

Have you thought about keeping meat ants? Iridomyrmex purpureus etc

 

The queen is larger 14-15mm, Camponotus sized and thick.

 

And the workers are 7-8mm, so like Camponotus minor sized, with red purple heads and thorax.

Fast growing, swarmy and aggressive ants.

You can sure to get a reaction from them anytime

 

You should have seen them in the wild anyway

 

My queen before she died... I would like to get another

You can see why they are called rainbow ants, when lit up

 

 

edit - they fly around about now, so should be plentiful where you live

Edited by CoolColJ, August 28 2018 - 4:38 AM.

[DaveJay]

Have you thought about keeping meat ants? Iridomyrmex purpureus etc

The queen is larger 14-15mm, Camponotus sized and thick.

And the workers are 7-8mm, so like Camponotus minor sized, with red purple heads and thorax.
Fast growing, swarmy and aggressive ants.
You can sure to get a reaction from them anytime

You should have seen them in the wild anyway

My queen before she died... I would like to get another
You can see why they are called rainbow ants, when lit up

Yeah, I saw a lot of them over the last few days, no opportunities to collect though, just huge colonies.
I think they'll be one I might be able to collect after a flight once I live in the Riverland, I have some ideas about sneaking "queen traps" around the bush, pavers etc, maybe pouring water on them to attract inverts.
Hopefully I've collected a colony of slightly smaller ants today, I didn't leave any behind so hopefully I have the Queen, I saw one winged ant with the brood before scooping the whole nest out so maybe that was her, seemed thin but then I only got a split second glance.

[CoolColJ]

Well meat ants fly about now, and for the next month or so, after it rains where you are that is

 

You might be able to catch some blue meat ants Iridomyrmex lividus, they have a blue sheen

And occur all over South Australia, but seem kinda rare in terms of people finding queens.

Edited by CoolColJ, August 28 2018 - 4:52 AM.

[DaveJay]

Yeah, no rain lately. I don't see meat ants around the Adelaide Hills but they might be here. I haven't seen any flights this year at all yet but I'm waiting, test tubes poised. I'll be catching whichever species I see and sort it out later.

What I have done is placed pavers and bricks around my daughters' yard in the Riverland hoping that Queens might lob there if there's a flight.

Of course once I move I'll be in the right place for lots of species, I've seen quite a few desirable ants on holidays.

[DaveJay]

Well, I came home to quite a mess after 5 nights away! Both C. consobrinus colonies have covered EVERYTHING in substrate, even the decor!
The C. "Gold Bum" don't seem to have done much, the food was untouched, just mouldy. Their tube has yellow liquid in the dam so I'm guessing it's sugar water of some sort. They do have eggs now though! They arrived with 5 workers but no brood at all, good to see that she laid.
No action from the C. "Cairns" though, I can't see in their tube without disturbing them so I'll just remove the uneaten food for now. I've been keeping the ants in the bedroom as the temperature is a pretty steady 19/20c, I'd like it higher but in my experience with various animals a constant temperature is better than fluctuating higher temperatures. What I didn't realise was that my wife turned the heater off before we left, hopefully it hasn't bothered these tropical ants, it was pretty cold in the room.

Edit at 3am - I sprayed all colonies and fed all a piece of cashew, a piece of apple and a tiny piece of raw beef (I was feeding my dermestid beetles). I removed the feeders and didn't replace them, apple will do for now.
I also peeked at the C. Cairns, they seem ok and the brood has developed, lots of larvae now so it seems like no harm from the lower temps.

Edited by DaveJay, August 28 2018 - 9:32 AM.

[CoolColJ]

How big is your C.cairns queen? <1cm ?

[CoolColJ]

Pic of blue meat ants, Iridomyrmex Lividus - have you seen them in your area?

 

[DaveJay]

How big is your C.cairns queen? <1cm ?

Yes, about 1cm, much smaller than the Camponotus aeneopilosus queen.

Pic of blue meat ants, Iridomyrmex Lividus - have you seen them in your area?

 

I think I took pictures of them at the river, the "Meat Ants" on the way home looked a more vivid purple. Check the Anting Thread later and see what you think. http://www.formicult...outh-australia/

[DaveJay]

New colony collected on the 28th August!

 

Colony collected 28th August near Berri, The Riverland/Murray Mallee Region, South Australia.

 

I found this colony on Thursday night - 23rd Aug - but quickly replaced the stone and sprinkled loose sand around the edges to reseal it. It was on the side of a dirt alley in a small town, the surface was compacted sand with finer loose sand near the fences.

I observed the stone and surrounding area at various times of day or night for the next 4 days but saw no ant activity at all. I was also taking note of when the stone received sun throughout the day to try to work out when I thought the queen would be most likely to be in upper chambers for collection.

Friday night I poured about 1 litre of water around the edges and top of the stone thinking that perhaps I had lost humidity in the nest and raising the humidity/moisture level might keep or bring the queen to chambers directly below the stone. The dirt/sand the nest was formed in was to all appearances dry, it flowed easily from the hand.

The ants are around the 8mm mark, some variation but no obvious castes sizes.

At first glance they look black but they have a metallic sheen in some lights but they are not a smooth looking ant. 

In some of the following pics you can see a hint of greenish heads and purple-ish thoraxes which is why I included some pics that aren't really up to par.

 

Tentative I.D. (by myself) Rhytidoponera metallica.

If so apparently they have gamerates and "queens are relatively insignificant and are rarely produced in colonies." (Wikipedia)

 

One winged ant found with the colony but no obvious bigger sized obvious Queen present. The winged ant is about the same size as the others but the gaster is different. I can't decide if it's a winged Queen or a male. It's very shy and burrows immediately, I saw a flash of it in the split second between lifting the rock and the "scoop and dump" (my method for catching some inverts, I slice under the soil with a spatula and dump it into a tub and put the lid on, the only way to catch centipedes!) and for another second or so when I sprinkled the dirt/sand from the collection tub to a more permanent tub. It buried it's head immediately but left its' gaster exposed so I took a couple of pics before it disappeared.

In one pic it looks like a worker is bigger but that's perspective, all the ants were close in size.

Let me know what you think.

 

 

 

 

 

The nest was directly under the stone with the brood chambers roofed by the stone.

I took one scoop and dumped it into a tub removing all of the nest entirely. Immediately after scooping I carefully scooped the loose dirt and debris from the hole by hand and dug a bit deeper carefully checking each small scoop as I went, there were no ants or tunnels deeper than my original scoop.

 

Some stray workers were out of the brood chambers at the time and were all scooped up individually, to the best of my knowledge I removed every ant. I spent a long time waiting to see movement catching one stray here and there until there were none left. I estimate around 20 workers.

In the collection tub there were quite a few workers carrying brood but only one or two once transferred to a more permanent vented tub so unfortunately I've lost most of the brood, either in transit or because they had made a chamber before I sprinkled the loose sand into the new tub.

The new more permanent tub has a base of compressed sand with some peat added but not much, very much like the substrate they were found in, and of course that substrate is now the top layer in the tub. The workers have been busy since last night, three chambers have been started, maybe they will pull together as a colony.

[CoolColJ]

Yeap Rhytidoponera metallica

The queens of this species look very similar to the workers, and are only abour 1-2mm larger than the workers.
They just have a larger throax and hump for the wing muscles.
Typical semi-claustral queen characteristics

The winged one is an unfertile alate.
These ants fly in spring, so right now. So if you can find a drone (male), they have smaller heads and straight antenna, you can mate them
Drones will also mate with the dominant worker of the colony to create a gamergate

Edited by CoolColJ, August 30 2018 - 4:22 AM.

[DaveJay]

Yeap Rhytidoponera metallica

The queens of this species look very similar to the workers, and are only abour 1-2mm larger than the workers.
They just have a larger throax and hump for the wing muscles.
Typical semi-claustral queen characteristics

The winged one is an unfertile alate.
These ants fly in spring, so right now. So if you can find a drone (male), they have smaller heads and straight antenna, you can mate them
Drones will also mate with the dominant worker of the colony to create a gamergate

Yeah, that's what I read but so far I've only looked at Wikipedia because I wanted to work on sorting the pictures, plus cooking dinner, watching a movie etc, I'll research them in bed later. 

From what I have previously read regarding gamergates etc the eggs of an unmated queen will produce drones which can then mate with one of the females to produce a gamergate, I read observations of a drone produced this way mating with it's sisters in the formicarium so I guess I'll keep them and see what happens, I'm 250km from where I collected them so I'm not sure if they're in my area or not.

It finally rained today (I can't believe I'm saying that about here, it's usually a very wet area) so if there's a few sunny days coming we might get some flights happening, fingers crossed.

[DaveJay]

Yeap Rhytidoponera metallica

The queens of this species look very similar to the workers, and are only abour 1-2mm larger than the workers.
They just have a larger throax and hump for the wing muscles.
Typical semi-claustral queen characteristics

The winged one is an unfertile alate.
These ants fly in spring, so right now. So if you can find a drone (male), they have smaller heads and straight antenna, you can mate them
Drones will also mate with the dominant worker of the colony to create a gamergate

I quoted Cols post again because I couldn't tag him.

Here's some excerpts from the Wikipedia entry, it's pretty in-depth but I have yet to verify if the content is true, it looks legit though.

 

" The green-head ant is known for its rarity of virgin queens, with some nests occasionally producing winged females; queens are able to establish their own colonies in captivity, but out in the wild they have never been seen to establish a colony, suggesting that the species is losing its queen caste"

"The majority of observations show males mating with workers, but not queens."

 

This next seems contradictory to the rest of the text -

 

"The ergatoid (wingless reproductive females) queens emerge from their nest and, like the workers, appress their head onto the ground and elevate their gaster, from which the intersegmental membrane at the back of the abdomen extends. The queens then release the sex pheromones, which attracts the males, who frantically search for the queens through agitated locomotion. The males may attempt to copulate with workers that did not "call" for them, suggesting that workers might be able to release these pheromones."

 

On colony founding -

 

"Colony founding is mostly initiated by a fertilised worker that establishes herself in a closed cell, from which she sometimes emerges to forage for food. Observations show that most workers establishing their own colonies follow the typical behaviour of a Ponerine ant, laying eggs and rearing their larvae. However, the brood in captive colonies founded by workers only emerges as males. Such a case would mean that a new colony is probably formed by a number of workers leaving their parent nest, of which a few individuals are fertilised"

 

Given that, and this -

 

"The workers and queens closely resemble each other, making the two castes hard to distinguish, but the workers differ in having a compressed and elongated thorax, and an abdomen that is predominately green-tinted. The workers are also slightly smaller than the queens, measuring 6 mm (0.24 in)."

 

Therefore I may have the founding female after all whether gamergate or queen.

I'm 99.9% sure I captured every ant present in the nest and there were no other nests in the immediate area at all that I could find, there was no cover present that I didn't lift. 

 

I'll soon know I guess, spring's on the way.

 

Some nice pictures - http://www.brisbanei...s/GreenHead.htm

And a video, I like this guy, he should go far! 

Edited by DaveJay, August 30 2018 - 7:10 AM.

[CoolColJ]

IMO queens are not that rare, so far I've seen numerous reports from people in WA and QLD seeing and capturing R.Metallica queens.
Soon SA and NSW will be the same.

Spring starts tommorrow, and at >20 degrees, I reckon ants will take off tomorrow here, as it rained today
Even my Melophorus laid an egg today