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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 23, 2019 17:20:00 GMT
I have eagerly awaited the arrival of this colony all week and now they are here. Pseudolasius is an Asian genus of ant that very much resembles the common Lasius, but they have a few notable differences: they are polygynous and they also have their own major caste. Unfortunately I have never seen a multi-queen colony for sale but from what I've seen so far this new lady is very productive. See for yourself! There's the queen, two majors, 30-40 workers and a nice brood pile with lots of eggs. Here's the queen: They've made a mess of ripped cotton at the other end of the test tube and there are a few dead workers including a major, but otherwise they seem to be just fine. I'll try to feed them later. As always, comments and feedback are more than welcome.
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Post by Camponotus7 on Mar 23, 2019 19:05:56 GMT
Such a lovely colour. Are they bigger than Lasius flavus?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 23, 2019 19:22:28 GMT
Such a lovely colour. Are they bigger than Lasius flavus? The workers themselves are about the same size, but the queen is a little smaller than an L. flavus queen. I'd compare her more to L. umbratus.
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Post by Jenny on Mar 24, 2019 6:33:52 GMT
They are a gorgeous colour very striking They do remind you of flavus and very good value for a colony of that size
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 24, 2019 15:26:40 GMT
Today, they are enthusiastically attacking a cricket. Here's a better photo of the queen!
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Post by mierwinkel on Mar 24, 2019 17:20:02 GMT
Your pictures are very beautiful. What do you use to make them?
P.S. am I allowed to use some of them on my Instagram if I put you and the site as the source?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 24, 2019 17:38:38 GMT
Your pictures are very beautiful. What do you use to make them? P.S. am I allowed to use some of them on my Instagram if I put you and the site as the source? I use a Nikon D5200 with a Sigma 105mm macro lens. And you're more than welcome to use my ant photos.
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Post by Zarbi on Mar 24, 2019 17:39:50 GMT
They are beautiful ants and your photos are wonderful.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 24, 2019 17:41:31 GMT
They are beautiful ants and your photos are wonderful. Thank you Zarbi!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 27, 2019 19:41:54 GMT
Here is part of the brood pile. I saw the first pupa earlier, although I haven't been able to get a good photo of it. It seems that this species do not spin cocoons. Excuse the decapitated cricket head...I managed to get most of the remains out earlier but the colony is easily riled up and the workers are very fast. Here's a major licking up the last traces of sugar water. I'm surprised by how tiny her eyes are! Same on this major engaged in trophallaxis. Those eyes are like pinpricks on the big head. To the left is the queen. I must say that I'm looking forward to Wood~Ant 's own journal on this species when his colony arrives this week.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 28, 2019 0:05:50 GMT
I hope my colony has a few majors and loads of brood like yours. I'm really looking forward to filming videos of this ant species.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 30, 2019 17:29:55 GMT
Today when I checked the colony I realised that there were in fact THREE majors instead of two. They're only three times as big as all the other workers Nova, how could you possibly have failed to spot the third one? I was able to get a nice photo of that pupa I mentioned before, which I'm now certain is going to be the fourth major. Eggs: They've just taken some sugar water and another cricket. Their reaction to sugar water seemed lukewarm at best for the first days, but now they appear to enjoy it. There's lots of trophallaxis going on. I will ply them with protein and hope that their numbers swell. I was thinking about ordering a nest for my colony to move into but after reading about what's happened to Wood's colony, I'm quite paranoid. It could've been caused by any number of factors but for now I think I'll play it safe and keep them in the test tube until the colony grows bigger. Alas, there's very little information on this species out there and only a few videos. It's the risk we take. If this colony does eventually perish for whatever reason, I'll take comfort in knowing that I've helped expose this little known species to a wider audience of potential keepers.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 3, 2019 17:48:20 GMT
Here is the brood as of today. As you can see, some more larvae are turning opaque in preparation for pupating. The queen is still alright but she wasn't interested in posing for photos today.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 9, 2019 18:23:57 GMT
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 30, 2019 15:28:20 GMT
To my surprise, I learned today that this species is actually Pseudolasius similus! To find out how I came to that conclusion, refer to this new journal. I've just finished moving the colony into a clean, bigger boiling tube without too much hassle. When they've settled down later I'll post a photo or two. During the move I found two new callows, one of which is a major.
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