gabranth: (25. Jul 2008 20:58)

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /o4/27/629727/1/55110277.Pheidolerhea5.jpg on this server.

kashmir79: (26. Jul 2008 11:08)

the link worked for me

armyoforigin: (26. Jul 2008 17:04)

the link worked for me Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /o4/27/629727/1/55110277.Pheidolerhea5.jpg on this server.
Apache/2.0.58 (Unix) Server at i.pbase.com Port 80

It does not work for me either.

kashmir79: (26. Jul 2008 21:18)

go to google images type in Pheidole Rhea

theres a great pic of two Black workers, 1 minor, 1 supermajor :)

armyoforigin: (26. Jul 2008 21:48)

go to google images type in Pheidole Rhea

theres a great pic of two Black workers, 1 minor, 1 supermajor :) I tried that and had no luck. =(

And besides in our (Me and kashmir79) captive colonies, I doubt we will see supermajors for a while hehe :-) Or even majors.
But as long as we give them proper care and attention they should grow rapidly. I am looking forward to getting my queen so much :-D

JimmyVe: (27. Jul 2008 10:56)

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/1669351_xNVHu/1/81797794_hv8ap#81797794_hv8ap

This is the picture that Kashmir was talking about. Take a look at that website there are really great pictures there. ;)

kashmir79: (27. Jul 2008 13:24)

cheers Jimmy :)

armyoforigin: (27. Jul 2008 16:27)

Well that site is not as good as Alex Wilds main site (I presume it is his main one?) it has amazing pictures of ants, lots too :-)
Here is the link: http://myrmecos.net
This page specifically has pictures of Pheidole: http://myrmecos.net/myrmicinae/pheidole.html
On that page there are 5 pictures of Pheidoel Rhea, however the reason I got confused by kashmir79's post was that he said there was "two Black workers, 1 minor, 1 supermajor". I misunderstood and thought that he meant 2 workers (Minors) another minor and a supermajor. :oops:
Sorry for the mistake :-(

Here is another excellent site for photographs: http://www.tightloop.com/ants/index.php
And specifically the Pheidole Rhea page: http://www.tightloop.com/ants/showspecies.php?species_id=17

If you look on here you can see minors, majors and supermajors ;-)

From the pictures it seems the supermajors have big blunt mandibles for cracking seeds whereas the majors have 'normal' serrated/sharp mandibles for cutting.

This of course makes perfect sense, but also confuses me slightly as to why P. Rhea supermajors are in the foraging columns at all?
All the seed cracking happens back at the nest. And although there mandibles could crush insects they are useless for much else... Maybe they are specifically there for insect defence and carrying large items?
Though I assume this only happens in established nests ;-)

By the way does anyone have any idea of the colony size (Minimum - Maximum) of P. Rhea. All I know is that it is large as Pheidole species are extremely prolific.

Enjoy the pictures! :-)

P.s. Apparently P. Pallidula colonies can grow to be 100,000 strong? I know there are Pallidula topics but I am pretty sure that none of them have the answer :-(

Cheers.

kashmir79: (28. Jul 2008 00:24)

well if a colony gets supermajors (shows that a colony is semi-mature) then i assume its in the 1000's or maybe 100,000's

im getting my queen on wednesday now, was supposed to be tuesdbay :(

oh well

god things come to those who wait

armyoforigin: (28. Jul 2008 00:37)

well if a colony gets supermajors (shows that a colony is semi-mature) then i assume its in the 1000's or maybe 100,000's

im getting my queen on wednesday now, was supposed to be tuesdbay :(

oh well

god things come to those who wait I think it is worth the wait ;-)

And you know that she is in good hands until she reaches you :-)

I would assume that it is indeed in the 10,000's or 100,000's.

I will *hopefully* (Crosses fingers) be getting my queen on Thursday/Friday :-)

I can't wait!