Showing posts with label Nylanderia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nylanderia. Show all posts
Monday, January 23, 2012
Aggie's Ant Family
Aggie (Nylanderia queen?)and her colony are still happily residing under the mouldy cotton wool ball... The colony seems to be increasing in size too - I don't like to bother them though so I cant be too sure of numbers. Today I put a small piece of banana and meal worm in their outworld and within one minute workers came to check it out. Here is the first lucky (hungry) worker.
Betsy's Ant Family
I haven't seen Betsy (Nylanderia queen, we think) since she moved into the ant farm on December 28 last year, but her little colony seems to be going very well! They have made several tunnels and eat lots of things, but mealworms are their favourite. There are lots of eggs and larvae hidden in the corner near where I let them in originally. It was hard to get a photo, but here is the best one I could get today.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Ants update!
I haven't updated for a while because nobody has been doing anything much!
When cleaning/feeding/watering Esme and Darlene (Banded Sugar Ants or Camponotus Consobrinus) I noticed that Esme seems to have less eggs than before? She's the stressy one, so perhaps that's it? Also her gaster (butt) is smaller than Darlene's. They are both refusing any foods except for honey water or fruit juice. Here's a couple of pics for comparing the two of them.
Darlene (big butt)
Esme the stress head (small butt)
And one of Esme and her eggs
Today when cleaning one of Betsy's (Nylanderia) workers escaped. I caught it and put it back in the formicarium (ant farm). Anyway a minute or so later I noticed another worker walking around the outside and caught it and put it back in. The thing is, I'm not entirely sure that it was Betsy's worker after all! It seemed to be really exploring like it had never been there before! oops.
When cleaning/feeding/watering Esme and Darlene (Banded Sugar Ants or Camponotus Consobrinus) I noticed that Esme seems to have less eggs than before? She's the stressy one, so perhaps that's it? Also her gaster (butt) is smaller than Darlene's. They are both refusing any foods except for honey water or fruit juice. Here's a couple of pics for comparing the two of them.
Darlene (big butt)
Esme the stress head (small butt)
And one of Esme and her eggs
Today when cleaning one of Betsy's (Nylanderia) workers escaped. I caught it and put it back in the formicarium (ant farm). Anyway a minute or so later I noticed another worker walking around the outside and caught it and put it back in. The thing is, I'm not entirely sure that it was Betsy's worker after all! It seemed to be really exploring like it had never been there before! oops.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
We have larvae!
17/11/11
Woohoo! Both A and B have larvae! It is hard to see A and her eggs/larvae as she is in the outworld now, but I manage by shining light in through the outworld and the cellophane covered test tube.
Some photos of B and her larvae :-)
I emailed a man from the CSIRO here in Canberra to see if they could help me identify my queens. He thinks they may be Nylanderia queens. This genus, which was recently split from Paratrechina, is rather common in the Canberra area. They are ground nesting, usually under rocks or logs. Colonies can be quite large and the workers are very active.
He suggested that I provide a protein source such as a broken up fly for the larvae and a sugary food for the queen such as diluted honey or a small piece of fruit. So being the good ant keeper I am, I set out on a hunt for a bug for the larvae. I caught a hoverfly and broke it up and gave it to B (no point in giving it to A as she has completely blocked herself and her larvae off in her test tube).
Woohoo! Both A and B have larvae! It is hard to see A and her eggs/larvae as she is in the outworld now, but I manage by shining light in through the outworld and the cellophane covered test tube.
Some photos of B and her larvae :-)
I emailed a man from the CSIRO here in Canberra to see if they could help me identify my queens. He thinks they may be Nylanderia queens. This genus, which was recently split from Paratrechina, is rather common in the Canberra area. They are ground nesting, usually under rocks or logs. Colonies can be quite large and the workers are very active.
He suggested that I provide a protein source such as a broken up fly for the larvae and a sugary food for the queen such as diluted honey or a small piece of fruit. So being the good ant keeper I am, I set out on a hunt for a bug for the larvae. I caught a hoverfly and broke it up and gave it to B (no point in giving it to A as she has completely blocked herself and her larvae off in her test tube).
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