95 replies to this topic

[CoolColJ]

Will be getting my Pheidole cf antipodum queens, Northern Territory version, this week
The majors look different from the species in Antwiki, from Western Australia, queens are also larger 15+mm vs 12-13mm
Makes me wonder if they are all different species and possibly an off shoot apart from regular Pheidole, and should be changed back to the separate genus of Anisiopheidole they once had...
The species definitely needs a review IMO

compare




vs the Western Australia version with the elongated heads on the majors
The queen on the left pic is an all black variant.

Edited by CoolColJ, November 25 2018 - 2:15 PM.

[CoolColJ]

What bountiful riches!

 

My twelve 14-15mm Pheidole cf antipodum queens from Alice Springs appear to like each others company, snuggling up to each other, and may well be polygynous like a lot of Pheidole species and Carebara affinis [ ]

click to enlarge

 

Edited by CoolColJ, November 28 2018 - 6:43 PM.

[LC3]

Are they polygynous though? Has anyone found out yet?

 

Also considering how wide the distribution is population variation doesn't seem all that surprising although I don't doubt your skepticism. 

[CoolColJ]

Are they polygynous though? Has anyone found out yet?
 
Also considering how wide the distribution is population variation doesn't seem all that surprising although I don't doubt your skepticism.

Not much is known about them, so little people keep them, since not many people live in arid regions
Luckily Alice Springs is a tourist destination so a town sprung up there
Talk about lucky, that the only known population of P.Antipodum in the Northern Territory are found Alice Springs!

This about where they were found, hovering above the ground in a swarm.
Arid but not quite dry desert

https://www.google.c...N242kdpzCHqKmhY

Edited by CoolColJ, November 29 2018 - 12:26 AM.

[CoolColJ]

I noticed one queen has a much darker gaster than the rest, and this one also has a big dent int it...

 

And comparing the Northern territory queens to my now dead South and Western Australia ones, the gaster and bands are much darker

 

 

click to enlarge - the dented gaster one is much darker to the naked eye, but the flash makes it bright

Edited by CoolColJ, November 30 2018 - 9:34 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Some Pheidole species ant, minor workers and majors, found in Alice Springs.
Possibly Pheidole antipodum, the colours match, but the majors look a little different

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, December 7 2018 - 8:15 PM.

[CoolColJ]

First nanitic

 

click

 

 

First batch of 100 brood, contains a few nanitic majors!

The 3 nanitic major pupa I can see, are of different sizes

 

[CoolColJ]

Just from observing all the queens I have had, and a few other people who have had queens - these do seem to have wildy varying genetics, higher proportion of infertility and a psycho streak...
A fairly high mortality rate.

Some of my queens have had eggs that never seem to hatch, or take a very long time doing so. Some of these queens ended up dying
While others lay a lot of eggs and they develop fast and work as you'd expect.
Shows how varied genetics are

Yeah of the queens I have had plus others I know it does seem a pretty high % are not productive.
The other guy that bought a queen off the same girl in South Australia, I initially got some from, his queen's brood spent ages as eggs and when they finally pupated, the queen ate them!

Just like my queen from Western Australia, she did the same, and then died.
The person who sent me the queen, from Western Australia, his second queen also ate all her workers as soon as they eclosed....

Edited by CoolColJ, January 18 2019 - 4:40 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Queen 3 has 2 nanitic smaller majors running around now

One of them is larger than the other.
Bigger than the minor workers, but still tiny compared to the queen!
Looking forward to the larger majors to come

Ugh this test tube has has really bad distortion, so hard to get clear and sharp images at max magnification

click to enlarge






Whee bum scatch

Edited by CoolColJ, January 20 2019 - 12:28 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Dang, just like that into week 2 and already at 15 workers or so

 

I fed them their first baby wood roach, well half of one.
After they settled down, and dragged it ontop the brood pile, the rest of the ants piled in after the queen approved and munched into it

 

Need the protein for the super majors!

[Leo]

This boy be jelly.

[CoolColJ]

More nanitics eclose, including at least 2 larger majors.
These newer majors look different from the first one, so likley a different caste
Different structure, with larger head, thicker body and muscular bulges on legs!

I captured newly eclosed worker cleaning the queens face

This test tube is horrible for macro pics and videos, it seems to have ripples on it... so much for cheap test tubes...




More mini majors have eclosed, they appear to be all different sizes so.
Funny seeing these larger head workers nursing the brood and eclosing others.
They also have Podomyrma muscle bulges on their legs.

click to enlarge


check the bulgey mini major under the queen - beef cake
little worker giving the queen a facial massage



muscular mini majors of different sizes, check the Podomyrma leg bulges of the newer and larger mini majors
A minor worker rides the first smaller mini major and gives her a clean on the right

[CoolColJ]

Checked up on the queens in the incubator and queen5 has 8 nanitics, that eclosed this week!
Small and larger minor workers
She laid her first 3 eggs on the 12th December 2018, so that's about 6 weeks at 27C degrees

Dual queen setup1, has 3 more nanitics, 4 total now.
Hopefully they stay like this, don't know if this species accepts multiple queens after 100 workers…

No changes in the other setups.
Some have eggs that haven't hatched after all this time
Such a variance in genetics...

click to enlarge - queen 5 and dual queen setup 1



queen 5 and her 8 nanitics. Small and larger minor workers

Edited by CoolColJ, January 24 2019 - 12:46 AM.

[Mdrogun]

Every day you update this journal, and every day I check it. Keep going! 

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole antipodum queen 3's nanitic mini majors fully darkened.
They have a darker red head now

 

These are still small, there will be much larger ones later on

click to enlarge

Edited by CoolColJ, January 28 2019 - 3:07 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Queen 3's nanitic mini majors have matured and now no longer tend the brood, and I see them sit in a group in the front part of the chamber.

Already seeing the polymorphic spread of the castes at this early stage, with different sizes, builds and head shapes

Podomyrma leg muscle bulges on display in second pic

 

There are minor workers, larger workers, small mini major, and larger mini major

 

click

 

 

Got a pic of queen 5 chain laying eggs out of her gaster

Edited by CoolColJ, January 29 2019 - 12:32 AM.

[CoolColJ]

Some other setups from a person who had 5 queens.

1 Dual queen and 3 singles.
He gave them all red dirt, the queen with the most dirt actually dug out her own chamber
Just like my queens, they cleared the dirt away from the glass to lay the eggs bare

[CoolColJ]

Pheidole antipodum queen 3's, 30+ worker (and some mini majors) colony has a habit of covering any food I give them, before later attacking and eating it
Even if it's a semi alive roach or cricket...

[CoolColJ]

So after eating the roach, they dragged it back to the dish, and then transported all the substrate they used to cover it, back to where they had them blocking the styrofoam chamber entrance...
Silly, but neat ants
Actually, that's very un Pheidole like

[CoolColJ]

I saw multiple workers and mini majors riding on the queen 5 for the first time:)
Starting to exhibt Carebara/Pheidologeton tendencies

click to enlarge