Since this queen has accepted brood I have decided to start a journal for her. I have been trying my best to find information, journals, or scientific papers on this species but it seems there just isn't much out there. She is very large at 12-13 mm, has very good eyesight, is extremely aggressive (attacks my tweezers if I get anywhere near her), and is a very bright red color with a black mesonotum and gaster. She was ID'ed in this thread.
I wasn't sure what kind of brood she would accept or if she would open cocoons by herself so I decided to place two different species of Formica brood in with her. The first species was a red and black species which I assume was in the rufa-group, they had naked pupae which is why I chose them. The second species was an all black fusca group species with cocoons. As soon as I placed both species in the tube with her she went over to investigate. several days later I could see that she had killed off quite a few of the rufa group pupae but had decided to kept one or two, and she kept all the fusca group cocoons. I will be checking on them later today as I believe there may be some callow workers by now.
I do not know how successful I will be but this is by far my favorite queen so I hope all goes well. Any and all advice is welcome.
Edited by rbarreto, August 7 2018 - 8:38 AM.
Answered
