[Timenova] Messor Barbarus

[TenebrousNova]

Yeah.
If only she was older, she might have been able to survive. At the very least, two of the pupae are changing colour.

[Wood~Ant]

Is the lid to your set up a solid soft plastic one? If it is, try piercing a few small air holes into the top using a needle. You can hold a needle in a flame to heat it (using a pair of pliers for safety reasons) and make holes small enough to prevent escape, but large enough to give some air flow and keep down the risk of excessive condensation

[TenebrousNova]

I used my smallest screwdriver to make some tiny holes just now.

[TenebrousNova]

I have just checked on the black queen who adopted my old red queen's worker. They have a single egg. If we are lucky, then it will hatch eventually.

[TenebrousNova]

Not much condensation left, no.

[TenebrousNova]

One of the Messor larvae has begun to pupate; it has formed the beginnings of the eyes. Interestingly, the eyes are located at the back end, while the head part is now transparent where the abdomen will form...or am I incorrect?
The eyes are definitely there though.
The worker is also carrying a small clutch of about 6 eggs, and the dark pupa should be hatched by next weekend.
I am going to make sure that this one doesn't have any accidents, as it was sad that the callow from last night only lived for a few hours.

I'm also trying to think about how I could encourage them to leave the bottle.

[Wood~Ant]

Feb 13, 2011 20:09:36 GMT TenebrousNova said:

One of the Messor larvae has begun to pupate; it has formed the beginnings of the eyes. Interestingly, the eyes are located at the back end, while the head part is now transparent where the abdomen will form...or am I incorrect?
The eyes are definitely there though.

Normally ant larva have their head end sited at the thinest part of their body, as you will often see a larva raise its head in a swirling motion when it is begging food from a passing worker/nurse ant.
This is true of Messor larvae also; but when the larva is close to pupating something happens within its last larval moult so that inside the larval skin the entire creature breaks down into a kind of soup like mass of cells, molecules etc.
This mass changes the form of the creature (like a caterpillar becomes a butterfly) and a genetic mutation occurs which results in the entire larva taking on the form of an adult ant (head, legs, gaster and so forth), so that when you see what you may think to be the abdominal end, you are actually seeing the baby ants head, if that makes any sense?

Once an ant larva pupates, forget the grub like larval state altogether and think ANT, as this is what the little creature is now evolving into, a perfect insect shape which will eventually become an adult ant of whatever caste it is destined to become

[TenebrousNova]

Ah, its just that the pupa's body looks like it has switched itself back to front and I got confused.

Oldest pupa looks as though it will hatch in a matter of days, while the second oldest is now dark yellow, preparing to turn brown.

I'm not sure what I could feed them, as seeds put in are taken out.

[TenebrousNova]

Still trying to think of what they might eat. I'll try them on a tiny bit of sausage later, or some other kind of meat.
Older pupa almost ready for hatching, and another is now turning brown. One of the pupae seems to be twice the size of the others, but I would be very surprised to be getting a major this soon.

[Wood~Ant]

Feb 16, 2011 16:00:31 GMT TenebrousNova said:

One of the pupae seems to be twice the size of the others, but I would be very surprised to be getting a major this soon.

Majors and super-majors only appear in a colony after the first year, so it will probably be about summer 2012 before you get to see any; and as the big orange headed super-majors act as royal guards for the queen, they usually stay below ground quite a lot. Although they will come up if required by their smaller nest mates to help cut up large insects, or if the colony feels threatened by something

[TenebrousNova]

I might try them on peas if this tiny piece of gammon fails.
You are probably right wood, it will be a slightly larger worker I expect.

[TenebrousNova]

They didn't like the gammon. They moved it out of the bottle.

[Zarbi]

Feb 16, 2011 17:02:28 GMT TenebrousNova said:

They didn't like the gammon. They moved it out of the bottle.

Too salty perhaps? Try a bit of fish or white meat like turkey or chicken

[odesssus]

shane says his like chicken but not to greasy.

[shane]

Feb 16, 2011 21:12:56 GMT odesssus said:

shane says his like chicken but not to greasy.

Aye.. any cooked bird they feast on.