Caught a Pheidologeton diversus need advice

[bulldog1234]

hey there,

i caught what i think might be a [p.]Pheidologeton diversus (yes i'm noob). however the standard test tubes that i have seems kinda small and i doubt it would be enough for the queen. is there any alternative for me to "create" another form of founding chamber without test tubes? or is finding another bigger test tube my other option. btw the queen is shedding its wings already!hope it doesn't lay eggs in its holding container.

[Creature]

Make a picture of the queen plz

Make a box filled with sand/loam. Spray just a little bit water over it so the queen can dig. And put the test tube also into the box so she can decide

[bulldog1234]

is it p.diversus?

Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

[Creature]

Yeah this defenitly looks like a Pheidologeton queen. I would say you follow my advice i gave u earlier. and please send me a queen

[bulldog1234]

haha nice! she just finish plucking off all her wings. i transferred her out into another temporary holding container. gonna get the glass tubes tomorrow.

[Creature]

give her some sand/loam to digg in. Right now she is total stressed in this box u gave her. this way she wont lay eggs

[baumarkthammer]

You should give her some workers and some brood from wild colonies, otherwise she will die. Pheidologeton diversus don´t found colonies out of a queen, they split out of big colonies.
Founding colonies in the nature will be about 500-1000.
So try to give her brood, if she will eat it it is the wrong species for sure, if not try to give her a worker, if he is killed try again, if not you are lucky.

[bulldog1234]

thanks for your advise. it is much appreaciated . is there anything else i should know as a first time keeper of P.diversus? so does it mean that i can transfer her to plaster nest with some broods or would i need to keep them in a test tube first? and for that matter when should i start feeding them? sorry for all the questions, kinda at a lost here. thanks once again

now the tough part is finding those broods without getting bitten.

[baumarkthammer]

Yeah, there is something you should know. Don´t mind if the first workers die after 4 weeks, they just live very short. What makes Pheidologeton very hard to keep!
When first workers are out you should start feeding many proteins, they need them.
I´m not sure if an lonley Pheidologeton diversus queen can found alone.
I´m not sure if it really is P. diversus, I have to admit, that i don´t know the difference exactly.

[bulldog1234]

can anyone confirm if this is a [p.]* Pheidologeton diversus? anyway i have transferred the queen into a test tube. will update more


*Edit Antstore - Please write it correctly! T hanks!

[bulldog1234]

Caught 4 more but 1 of them died, one of her leg was missing.

[Necturus]

Hello bulldog,

this species key might help: Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar. I have not worked through it (and would most likely not be able to supply help without a specimen or pictures with much higher magnification of important body parts), and most of the information appears to be refering to workers (especially worker size). But i'd like to ask about something else:

when picking up the ants, what kind of behaviour where they showing? where they digging? or running around? Was it anywhere near a visible colony of Pheidologeton cf. diversus ?
Could you store the recently deceased queen in alcohol?

I have read contradicting information about colony founding behavior.

best regards,
Necturus

[bulldog1234]

Hey Necturus,

Thanks for your help. It seems that 3 of the queens have started to lay eggs now they are very small (1-2mm) which makes me wonder if they are really eggs.

Anyway to answer your question, the queens and males caught were wandering around on the floor. Some of the queens had already shed their wings when I caught them and for those that didn't they promptly shed their wings 1-2hrs after capture. However there is a queen with wings still intact which I hope to be able to capture a male to mate with her during the next "mating flight". Mating seems to be done on the ground. And yes there are a few nest around the area.

Sorry to say that I threw the deceased queen already. I will try to take some pics of the unfertilized queen as I do not wish to startle or stress the mated queens. I hope I answered all your queries. Feel free to ask more if need be.

Regards,
Bulldog

[Necturus]

Hello bulldog,
thank you for your answer. Yes, they actually are eggs. Often those are carried at the dorsal gaster side:
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

The shedding of wings does not seem to always be related to sucessfull mating. I can confirm copulation on the ground, could you describe the place where you saw mating taking place and distance to the surrounding nests? What did the mating look like exactly? Were several males involved? I found the males very attracted to light, did you see any reflecting surfaces or foliage in bright color? Details welcome at this point

Unlike with many other species, i could see a sucessfull mating with a male even in captivity. After removing a big amount of alate reproductives I observed copulations in the very unromantic collecting basin.

Please keep reporting on their developement!

Someone has mentioned adding workers of an established colony. Since it is possible that none of those queens will survive founding alone, you could consider adding a few hundred workers to one of the queens (separate them in packs of 50-100 and give them a day or two alone, to allow possibly critical colony odor to disperse. Dont forget offering a water source, ie wet cotton. Only add one "pack" at a time and give them some time to adapt. adding a big number all at once might lead to aggression). It would be interested to observe if the other queens manage to found colonys be themselfes, or if colony founding is indeed achieved by returning queens and nest splitting.

If you observe anything else in nature, please report as well.

Best regards,
Necturus

PS:
Although it will not be any help with their identification:
Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

[UneXisted]

I know someone who founded several colonies of P. diversus with a queen only. Though, for the best success rate i suggest to do as Necturus and baumarkthammer says.