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Post by adamjames20 on Feb 24, 2013 10:24:33 GMT
Hello Guys , I have decided to do another journal but on my Harpegnathos colony, I received the colony in the first week of January but due to not much luck with this species in the past I have waited until promising progress took place. I am not sure how long this journal will last as my luck with this species in the past has always ended in failure.
Harpegthanos venator is a 20mm long ant that is carnivorous by nature and hunts its prey. It posseses a powerful sting like most poneri ants which it uses to paralize its prey. Once paralized the insect prey is taken back to the nest where it is devoured alive. 
My colony consists of 23 workers and 2 queens , roughly 37 eggs and 2 newly hatched larva.
The colony arrived in a clear plastic tub, amongst some moist tissue, but I was pleased to find all were healthy. Unfortunately they must of consumed the brood during traveling which is usually the case with this sensitive ant.
Workers share a freshly caught and paralized cricket.
The Queen tucks into her meal, she maintains a great respect from the workers , she always eats alone and the workers seem to fear her , jumping out her way should she approch them. She is the same size of the workers but can be idistinguished by her larger thorax and wing joints where her wings once attached and she has a fatter abdomen.
A freshly hatched larva. Like the ants the larva have voracious appetite and always seem to be hungry, they lye on the chamber floor waving there heads waiting for a worker to pick them up and place them on the caught prey. Once placed on the insect corpse they chew into it and feast.
Heres a video showing my colony , I hope to update soon.
Regards
Adam 
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Post by Wood~Ant on Feb 24, 2013 13:05:11 GMT
Adam, this has the makings of yet another really interesting journal. Nice one mate.  |
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Post by adamjames20 on Feb 24, 2013 18:05:51 GMT
Cheers Wood ant , I certainly hope so , they are finicky ants so I hope they succeed.
Regards
Adam
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Post by adamjames20 on Mar 4, 2013 12:20:45 GMT
Hello Guys well , thought I would update you on the Harpegnathos as there has been some great development There are presently 8 larva in the nest with more on the way. It seems the eggs are hatching as they were laid so there is a day or two between the emergence of newly hatched larva. Currently the colony has 39 eggs so it will be great news if they all make it to pupation. Heres a few piccys.  Eggs lie in wait and develope, while 3 larva gorge on a bit of cricket.   One of the queens stands guard over her and the other queens eggs, workers are known to eat eggs if they become hungry.  The Larva gorge them selves and grow rather quick. After roughtly just over a week they will be ready to pupate. Heres a video Update Regards Adam |
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Post by adamjames20 on Mar 11, 2013 13:45:35 GMT
Hey guys , another update on my Ponerine ants. The colony is doing fantastic , both queens are laying and and doing well. There are now 18 larva and more hatching every few days which is great, will not be long untill the first few pupate and then when they start emerging it will be great to see a steady stream of workers added to the colony.  A small pile of larva are continually fed by the workers who as a resuilt become ravenous themselves. This growing colony now consumes about three crickets a day.  The larva wave there heads in the air , signalling to the workers there increasing hunger. Update again soon guys. Hope all your colonys are doing great  Adam |
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Post by Jenny on Mar 11, 2013 14:34:59 GMT
Fantastic, so glad they are doing well for you Adam Just what I needed on a snowy cold afternoon, better than the TV, thank you! |
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Post by adamjames20 on Mar 11, 2013 15:14:44 GMT
He he , Thank you Jen , I am too glad they are doing well , usually by now I have either had a lot of workers die or the larva have disappeared , only once have I got them to pupae stage but then they failed. I have a good feeling about these. Glad your enjoying this journal, its a pleasure to write it.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 11, 2013 16:19:10 GMT
They seem to be doing well Adam, and I love the new video showing the larvae actually begging for food from their older worker ant sisters. Do these ants have a true queen or a gamate which lays the eggs?
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Post by adamjames20 on Mar 11, 2013 17:25:54 GMT
Hi Wood ant cheers mate. The colonys start off with a queen from a mating flight like most ants , then she starts a new colony from scratch. What usually happens though is the founding queen either dies from old age after a few years as they are short lived or gets killed by one of her daughters. A few of these daughters then become fertile and mate with either visiting or males from there own colony and become productive, the colony then carries on as normal but with several workers taking on the role of queen. These workers also produce winged queens who then leave the nest and go on a mating flight to start there new colonys away from the parent nest. Interesting stuff lol
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 11, 2013 17:33:46 GMT
Thanks for the info explaining how the queen is replaced, as I know other species like this ant that have queenless colonies which only have fertile female egg laying workers. |
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Post by adamjames20 on Mar 12, 2013 7:15:16 GMT
Your welcome woodant : )
Adam
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Post by adamjames20 on Mar 20, 2013 13:43:43 GMT
Well there has been a great change in the colony this week We have our first larva pupating . The first larva has now successfully spun a cocoon and I'm sure it will be followed swiftly by many others. Here's a few pictures and another video update.  More and more larva hatch every day, the count now exceeds thirty   The Crickets do not last long once dragged into the nest and at times the workers seem to struggle to meet demand.  The first sign of a larva pupating. The workers seperate it from the group and start trying to bury it under what ever they can find. Will keep you updated guys , hope you and all your ants are grand Regards Adam |
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Post by adamjames20 on Apr 22, 2013 10:18:20 GMT
Well Hello guys , here we are again another update for my jumping ants The colony have been doing fantastic, I honestly don't think they could do any better then they have been. Both queens are alive and healthy, the workers are all still alive and going strong. They are meeting demand to feed the generations of larva that seem to hatch each week. I have kept this species in the past with terrible results but I'm glad I have cracked it. The last update we had the first few larva spinning there cocoons , well I can gladly say many more did the same and there are approx. 32 cocoons now in the nest with more being spun every few days   While more larvae spin cocoons , more eggs hatch and this has become a steady conveyer belt of growth. The colony is getting through at least 15 small crickets every few days.  And now for the most exciting news of all , I save the best for last  The colony has had its first new member hatch from its cocoon and it is a new ( drum roll please ) Winged young queen It will not be long untill the other cocoons start to hatch as the larva spun within days apart. The workers have been selecting a few and paying them very close attention so I'm betting in the next few days I will get more. I'm hoping there are a few males and more queens as due to my two queens are not sisters the chance of there princess daughters mating with there brothers becomes great. This species breeds with its siblings anyway. Newly emerged queen (princess untill mated) getting cleaned by fellow worker.  The workers take great care in these colony members and they receive a great deal of grooming  I can now saftly say the development for each stage is as follows , based on a temperture of 26 - 27 c Egg - Larva = 47 days Larva - cocoon = 22 days Cocoon - emergence = 35 days I am baffled why the eggs took so long to hatch , I could only assume a few were eaten as others laid but I never saw a decrease in egg count. Heres a video of the colony  Regards Adam |
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Post by crockatt on Apr 22, 2013 10:29:47 GMT
Your photos and videos are fantastic, do you use special equipment to zoom in so.close, I can only dream of getting pictures like that. Brilliant news about your "princess" wonderful to see your colony thrive.
Sent from my GT-I8150 using proboards
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Post by adamjames20 on Apr 22, 2013 11:30:43 GMT
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The colony has had its first new member hatch from its cocoon and it is a new ( drum roll please )
