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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 2, 2021 16:16:37 GMT
I've always had a soft spot for this furry, pacifistic ant, so I ordered a colony from The Ant Lady along with a small formicarium to keep them in. First off, I was surprised to find several young winged queens wandering around in there! There's also some male pupae. Moving the colony into the nest was very easy and they went inside without a fight.   One of the young queens holding the eggs. It seems that until they mate, they act like any other worker?    And some well deserved refreshments.   As always, comments/feedback are welcome. |
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jun 2, 2021 19:08:51 GMT
I was going to say that it's a lovely little colony, but it is much more than that. A lovely medium sized colony and great photos considering that they are only about 3mm in size.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 3, 2021 2:02:19 GMT
I spoke to Tracey earlier and she says that this colony was one she raised from the queen and ten workers. They only started to produce alates a few weeks ago! They've settled in nicely.  The largest of the three nest chambers has a floor made of fine mesh over the water reservoir, and it is here that the colony has moved to.    They've nibbled at a cricket and broken a few legs off, but haven't actually taken it into the nest. Maybe later. |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 4, 2021 17:39:55 GMT
Here's the colony today. Those drone pupae are getting dark!  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 13, 2021 17:14:15 GMT
This colony is shy and slow to rouse, but once they've found food they'll soon come running.  As you can see, the queen has been busy!  There's a single male in the nest. I thought there would've been more, but I took a look at their trash pile and found the remains of multiple males. Looks like they're not interested in having them around.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 15, 2021 19:05:53 GMT
Those eggs from the last update have hatched. I'm hoping that these larvae will be more workers to replace those who died of old age. They have taken another cricket into the nest, which is a good sign that those larvae will soon eat. There's still two winged queens and a few drones hanging around.   |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jul 31, 2021 20:48:37 GMT
The little fuzzballs are still doing well! They're eating a lot and the queen has been busy lately, laying more eggs. There's quite a lot of medium to large larvae at the moment.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 19, 2021 16:02:24 GMT
Here's the Meranoplus going foraging!   Lots of brood as well. I'm pleased with how they're growing.  I heartily recommend this species if you want an "entry level" Asian ant. They're undemanding, small, interesting looking, arguably cute and they're well behaved. |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 30, 2021 20:11:42 GMT
Not the best photo but there's a cute callow worker in the middle. They took two crickets into the nest today.  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Oct 20, 2021 20:06:13 GMT
For some reason the lone surviving female alate has shed her wings. She seems to act like any other worker, while the real queen stays on the brood pile. I've seen this happen in a number of species, such as shane 's Messor barbarus.  And here they are investigating a dead roach.  |
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