20 replies to this topic

[Aaron567]

Gnamptogenys triangularis is an Ectatommine species that is native to most of the South American continent. They were first introduced to the southeast US likely in the 1980s and they've been quietly spreading ever since. They are growing more and more common in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and are millipede-hunting specialists. 

 

On August 21, 2018, I moved my dogs' water bowl and this queen came running out from underneath it. I've never seen males or workers of this species around my area so it was a complete surprise to me that I found her right in my backyard. 

 

She is about 6 millimeters. 

 

 

I put her in a test tube with some eco earth substrate, connected to a small outworld. Apparently most of the new world Gnamptogenys are specialist predators while the ones native to Asia are generalists. I figured I would have to feed this queen millipedes for her to survive. I found a millipede for her and she accepted it. 

 

After a few days I decided to give her a mealworm. They can't be that much different from millipedes, right? These ants just drink the hemolymph. I checked the next day and she had dragged the mealworm closer to her and piled dirt around it, which probably meant she at least consumed some of it.

 

 

On September 6, I was happy to see that she laid an egg.

 

 

Then I put two cricket legs in her test tube. At this point I just disconnected the outworld because she wasn't using it at all. She is quite inactive and rarely leaves her eggs, even when I check on her. After a few hours I checked to see her absolutely destroying one of the cricket legs, clearly enjoying it. 

 

It is awesome that they actually accept more food than just millipedes. Maybe the species had to learn to adapt to a wider diet in order to thrive in their nonnative habitat. 

 

 

Here she is on September 7 with her second egg. 

 

 

She kept laying a new egg every day for the next few days after that. 

 

 

September 14, 2018

 

Today, she has what looks like five eggs. It is hard to tell because she used the eco earth to make a little wall. 

 

 

 

Edited by Aaron567, September 11 2021 - 10:50 AM.

[Leo]

I really enjoyed keeping gnamptogenys, really cool ants and mine never smelled bad, always like honey or herbal medicine (though I don't know why).

[Major]

What's your camera setup?

[Aaron567]

November 7, 2018

 

A couple weeks ago this queen's larvae all died because they got no food. I kept offering her food, the food that she had already accepted and eaten before, but she was so inactive that she would never even leave her brood to eat. The larvae never grew and just died of malnutrition. 

 

I have actually removed the little wall of substrate that she built, hoping that would encourage her to walk around the tube more. I gave her a piece of a mealworm a few days ago and I just discovered today that she has laid a new little batch of eggs. She has also suddenly became more active and responsive when I disturb her ever since her larvae died and I removed her substrate wall. Not gonna give up on her just yet!

[Jadeninja9]

That’s why I’m always weary of following the “ants know what’s best for them” philosophy because stuff like this that happens.

[TennesseeAnts]

Update?

[Aaron567]

Queen died January 2019. Never got past first-instar larvae.

[Aaron567]

October 22, 2019

 

On October 15, one week ago, I found a new Gnamptogenys triangularis queen in a swimming pool. This is nearly two months later than the date I found the 2018 queen, likely due to a long period of drought that just ended here in northwest Florida. She still had her wings when I found her, but shed them one day after putting her in a bare test tube. She's about a millimeter larger than the queen from 2018.

 

 

I moved her out of the test tube and into a small, acrylic container with a layer of Eco-Earth at the bottom. I figured she'd dig into the soil and be very comfortable in this setup. I originally set the container up to breed Greenhouse Millipedes (Oxidus gracilis) a couple of months ago (specifically to have food for Gnamptogenys triangularis if I were to catch them), but it was unsuccessful. Since all the millipedes died there has been a large springtail population thriving in there. 

 

Yesterday I checked on the queen to find that, only after a day of being in the new setup, she had been completely covered in mites and also didn't appear to be settled down at all. Because the mites appear to have latched onto the queen from inside the Eco-Earth setup, I am speculating (and hoping) that these mites aren't parasitic. They do not seem to be grouped around her weak spots, but rather covering her entire body evenly. Upon discovering the mites I put a small amount of some new Eco-Earth inside a test tube setup and put the queen inside. Today, the queen is still acting normal and there may even be less mites on her, but it is difficult to tell. Below is a picture from yesterday.

 

 

Any advice on breeding the Greenhouse Millipedes Oxidus gracilis would be greatly appreciated. I know nothing of millipede care or breeding. This is the species with which I plan to feed Gnamptogenys if I am ever successful.

[ponerinecat]

holy heck

[Kaelwizard]

Blargh

[camponotuskeeper]

That’s a lot of mites

[Aaron567]

December 13, 2019

 

With the season progressing into winter here in northwest Florida, I have been unable to find a sufficient amount of millipedes to feed this queen and she has died without producing eggs. Upon my efforts of looking for millipedes and having almost no success, I find it hard to believe that Gnamptogenys triangularis queens in this climate zone actually begin their founding process immediately after nuptial flights take place. My guess is that, after having mating flights August-November, they find a place to hide out for the winter and then begin foraging for millipedes around February or March when the native ants are exiting diapause. 

 

I will keep this in mind for the next time I find a queen of this species so I can put her through diapause.

[Aaron567]

Also, an update on the mite situation: 
The mites appeared to be the kind of mites that only ate decaying matter, which meant they were only hitching a ride on the queen. When I attempted to feed the queen cricket legs, the mites swarmed them until the queen looked almost mite-free.

[Ferox_Formicae]

December 13, 2019

 

With the season progressing into winter here in northwest Florida, I have been unable to find a sufficient amount of millipedes to feed this queen and she has died without producing eggs. Upon my efforts of looking for millipedes and having almost no success, I find it hard to believe that Gnamptogenys triangularis queens in this climate zone actually begin their founding process immediately after nuptial flights take place. My guess is that, after having mating flights August-November, they find a place to hide out for the winter and then begin foraging for millipedes around February or March when the native ants are exiting diapause. 

 

I will keep this in mind for the next time I find a queen of this species so I can put her through diapause.

Shame she died. I'll have to put my queen into diapause or at least somewhere cooler. My room is a literal furnace, cause I have multiple lights running for my reptiles.

[Aaron567]

August 3, 2021

 

At the very beginning of this month, I found a Gnamptogenys triangularis queen foraging in a sandy undisturbed area near a young colony of Pogonomyrmex badius. I photographed her a few hours after catching her.

 

After photographing her I waited a little too long to get her into a proper setup, so she sat in a dry collection tube. I guess this species dehydrates more easily than I expected them to. She was unable to walk and seemed on the verge of death, so I quickly put her in a very moist test tube with the cotton pushed down more than usual. To my utter surprise, she made a full recovery by about 36 hours later. While she was recovering I poured a layer of plaster into a small container to make a setup identical to what I currently keep my Odontomachus haematodus in. Once she appeared to be settled in the new setup, I offered her a small, live greenhouse millipede. Over the course of a few days she completely dismembered it and picked it clean.

 

 

August 16, 2021

 

On this day I checked to see that she had laid 5 eggs. After this I gave her another millipede, larger than the previous, and once again she quickly ate the entire thing, only leaving scattered pieces of exoskeleton rings.

 

 

August 29, 2021

 

Now she has 3 newly hatched larvae and around 6 eggs. Things are going very well so far. One thing I should note is that I never see her forage; any time I check on her she's standing over her brood. I gave her an outworld a while ago but I doubt she's even stepped foot in it yet. I've been opening up the nest and dropping pre-killed millipedes next to where the queen is keeping her brood.

 

Here is a bad video of her showing interest in a fresh millipede.

[NickAnter]

Awesome! Hopefully she manages to get workers.

[Aaron567]

September 4, 2021

 

The larvae have been eating a lot and they're looking great. I'm thinking they don't have much longer until they start pupating. It looks like there are at least 3 larvae gathered around eating the millipede in these photos. You can also see the big separation between the queen's first and second gastral tergites.. she's full of millipede juice.

 

[CheetoLord02]

This is suuuuuuuch a cool species! I think these will end up being very interesting to care for as a larger colony, especially seeing if they demonstrate their interesting hunting behavior to take home full millipedes.

[eea]

her exoskeleton is beautiful!

[Aaron567]

September 11, 2021

 

The first pupa has arrived and there are at least 6 larvae. Unfortunately though, the queen has mites. A while ago I saw only one, and since then they've increased in numbers. They probably aren't parasitic mites but I still don't want them to overwhelm her like they did with the queen I had a couple years ago. Since having larger larvae, the queen has begun discarding a lot used millipede pieces into her outworld, which is great. I still need to do some cleaning inside the nest in an effort to control the mite situation; they're probably feeding on the millipedes pieces.