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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 6, 2019 21:33:03 GMT
I didn't expect to be getting any more ants anytime soon, but Fred from Clavata.co.uk let me know that he'd procured some Pheidole sinica queens, which is one of my dream species other than Messor cephalotes (I cannot find queens any cheaper than 400 euros!). This species is very rarely sold and they're notable for being one of the largest species in the genus, with the queens being comparable to those of Carebara. They are found in Asia, more specifically China. Here's a few photos (Not mine) to give you an idea of what they look like: I decided to order two queens that apparently have brood because it's always nice to have a backup. As far as I'm aware they are monogynous, so they'll be kept separately. They should arrive in a few days. As always, comments and feedback are more than welcome.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 7, 2019 17:08:05 GMT
I'm not sure if I could find a nest of suitable sized chambers for a queen this big, but they are a nice ant species. I see you have bought the last 2, as they are no longer in stock on Fred's site.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 7, 2019 20:28:04 GMT
I'm not sure if I could find a nest of suitable sized chambers for a queen this big, but they are a nice ant species. I see you have bought the last 2, as they are no longer in stock on Fred's site. Sorry Wood!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 8, 2019 10:23:35 GMT
Both queens have arrived in great condition! I thought that clavata was exaggerating at first when he compared them to Carebara queens, but he spoke the truth- they are MASSIVE for Pheidole! One queen, who will henceforth be referred to as Queen A, has a nice pile of eggs. The other, Queen B, has less. The queens are bigger than those of Messor barbarus, which I did not expect. Queen A: Queen B is a bit more restless and was walking around the test tube, but look closely at the cotton on the right and you'll see about four eggs stuck together: Apparently founding can take longer than most Pheidole so I'm going to leave them both be and check them just once a week. I'm so excited to see how they do!
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 8, 2019 11:59:07 GMT
If I've counted correctly queen A has 23 eggs. Hope they do well for you as both look nice and healthy, and I do like big ants so that the workers should be a good size for the genus.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 8, 2019 12:06:27 GMT
If I've counted correctly queen A has 23 eggs. Hope they do well for you as both look nice and healthy, and I do like big ants so that the workers should be a good size for the genus. Looks like you're right! Here's another photo of her I forgot to upload. How she picks up those tiny eggs without accidentally crushing them in her jaws is beyond me.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 15, 2019 12:38:33 GMT
Just now I checked these lovely ladies for the first time since they arrived last Thursday and I'm pleased to say that they've both been doing well. Once again though, I was surprised by how big they are. This time I also remembered to write the queen's respective letters on their test tubes. Queen A was resolutely standing on top of her now considerably larger egg pile, which has at least 60 eggs I'm guessing! As she was before, Queen B was the more alert of the two and although she didn't panic, she started walking around the test tube again to investigate the disturbance. She doesn't quite have as many eggs as Queen A but she's definitely been catching up- there's about 50 eggs in this pile. My only concern is that both queens have small tufts of some kind of fuzzy white stuff just behind their thoraxes, which you can see in both updates. Fungus...? Once again I wrapped their test tubes in foil and put them away. The next update will be next Thursday, hope you enjoyed this one.
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Post by 1moldavite on Aug 15, 2019 13:51:34 GMT
I'm not sure it's fungus,it looks more like cotton wool fibres to me.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 15, 2019 16:53:11 GMT
Hard to say what the white filaments are for certain, but fungus tends to grow on dead ants which are decaying and not on living tissue unless it has been damaged. To be honest I can't see both queens being affected, so it appears that it may be cotton wool fibres as 1moldavite suggested.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 15, 2019 18:14:03 GMT
Hopefully you're both right and I'm being paranoid. When the first workers eventually eclose I'm sure they'll give their mothers a good cleaning. I would've thought that if it was distressing them, they wouldn't be bothering to lay eggs.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 21, 2019 23:22:15 GMT
I said I'd update on Thursday and I kept my word- even if it is less than an hour after midnight on Thursday morning. Here is Queen A, who has more eggs than she did last time and is still dutifully crouched over them. Watching closely, I witnessed her gently licking her eggs and delicately picking one up in those big jaws. Queen B appears to have less eggs than she did last week, so I suspect she's been eating some... This is in inches, but I thought it'd help give you an idea of the queen's size. The white filaments I reported last time seem to have mostly gone on Queen A and completely on Queen B. Might've been cotton after all.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 28, 2019 23:20:43 GMT
I'm very sad to say that I found Queen B dead just now, with no surviving eggs and no indication of what could've caused it. Queen A still seems to be alright but there's mold spores growing on the cotton with no realistic way of moving her somewhere cleaner without causing stress or damaging her eggs.
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Post by 1moldavite on Aug 29, 2019 9:21:07 GMT
You could do what I did with one of my queens while she was in the test tube stage,and that's add a few springtails in,of course being a Pheidole she could eat them before they have chance of eating the mold,this is just a suggestion of course,someone else may have a better one.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 5, 2019 10:35:57 GMT
The remaining queen is alive but has suddenly eaten almost all of her eggs. I seem to be having terrible luck with a lot of exotic queens lately.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 10, 2019 11:11:26 GMT
Fred very kindly offered me a Pheidole sinica colony at a massive discount, for which I'm truly grateful. This colony has one queen of immense proportions, two big majors and 40-50 workers. Here's the tube they live in, which I think is ingeniously designed. You can fill the water reservoir by removing the cap from the tube on the end. Sinica workers. Although small compared to the queen, they are still twice the size of workers I've seen in other Pheidole species. Here's the queen, who is very shy. She immediately ran to hide in one of the holes separating the compartments. There are no larvae or pupae, but there are a few small clutches of eggs! Again, thanks so much Fred!
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