ANTSTORE World of Ants

[McK]

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Two workers drinking sugar water.

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A smaller worker just stopped drinking.

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A big worker of the biggest ant (the workers) species in the world (slightly bigger than Camponotus gigas).
Note: there are different sizes of ants in this colony, very small workers who care for the brood and the large workers who hunt for prey.
But you can't speak of polymorphism (different castes, like minor and major workers) in this case .

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In the middle of the night when it's completely dark, the queen sometimes goes on midnight walk around the nest inspecting everything.
I was following her with a infrared lamp and she stopped immediately when I took the picture.

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The queen with a worker, the queen is really large and impressive.
Note: this queen is 35mm big, take a ruler and try to imagine how big she is, you'll be amazed

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The queen wasn't too happy with all the attention she was getting and she decided to go back to the nest.

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A couple of larvae/grubs after they ate some fruit flies.

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Drinking time, you can clearly see the difference in size between the workers.

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Just like most other ant species, the workers put small stones and rubble on the larvae to make it easier for them to spin their cocoons.

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The queen laid her very first eggs since the colony arrived from Australia, which literally made my day!

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A large Myrmecia brevinoda worker.

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The very first pupae!

Extra videos.

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[damondeionno]

"Note: there are different sizes of ants in this colony, very small workers who care for the brood and the large workers who hunt for prey.
But you can't speak of polymorphism (different castes, like minor and major workers) in this case ."

McK

What you describe is worker polymorphism. Poly = many. Like in the word polygon many-angles (dictionary, more than 3). Also in ants, nearly all species are polymorphic. They have multiple adult forms, queen, male, worker (majors, minors - in some cases). What we tend to talk about with ants is worker polymorphism, or dimorphism, or you could (though it isn't often done talk about trimorphism), beyond that and we would generally refer to it as worker polymorphism.

So for example, many Pheidole species demonstrate worker dimorphism, as do some Eciton species, Camponotus, etc. Strictly speaking things often don't break down quite that simply. I have observed half-soldiers in Pheidole pallidula, and there are super majors in species like Pheidole rhea.

Equally, Messor, many Formica species, your Myrmecias here, Atta, Acromyrmex, Pheidologeton seem to display a degree of continuous variation amongst workers - they display worker polymorphism. Some argue that there are discreet worker castes in Atta but it seems difficult to define to me.

Lasius niger, Monomorium pharoanis, etc - worker monomorphism.

A bit pedantic I know.

[mate]

HI

if you can tell
from who you bought the colony and how much you paid for it? (because i want to buy one of myrmecia species but they are very expensive)

[McK]

Yes they are very expensive, that's why I searched for someone who lived in NSW Australia and asked him to dig up a colony.
This was a one time thing though, he's not going to do it again.

[SteveUK28]

I have to say Mck Very Very impressive keep the pics coming

[MorbidMike]

Very impressive! They really look huge and dangerous with those jagged jaws. How do they respond to prey? They attack immidiately I presume?
Can they climb glass? If those escape it would seem rather painful business to me . I wonder... are they powerful enough to bite through human skin? A bite and then a sting into the wound must be painful... the way wasps try to do it. It is so unfair that Europe does not have those exotic species . Though of course our ants are easiest to keep.

[McK]

They don't attack immediately, but they do show very aggressive behavior towards anything living.
Glass is not easy for them to climb on to, but if they keep trying they will eventually succeed.

Yes, they can cut right through your skin, they have the same tactics as Myrmica rubra, first bite the prey to make a small wound and then sting the wound to maximize the effectiveness of the attack.

[donbilbo]

Do you know the difference between "Myrmica brevinoda" and Myrmica pavida? For me those pics look exactly like Myrmica pavida.

[McK]

Myrmica brevinoda is almost twice as big as pavida.

[mate]

Yes but on antstore description it writs the queen of myrmecia pavida is about 35mm and workers 30mm and so is like myrmecia brevinoda

[donbilbo]

Ok, i was just wondering, you write you search for some guy in Australia to dig up some bullet ants and when they arrive you magically know they are "Myrmecia brevinoda". Is that guy a myrmecologist? Or are you? I'd just call them Myrmecia spec. or Myrmecia cf. brevinoda ....

[McK]

Antstore is wrong, the workers of Myrmecia pavida are between 22-26mm big.

you magically know they are "Myrmecia brevinoda"

Me and the team of Antforum.be determined the species after looking at the geographical location and by following the determination key for Myrmecia.
In case it would be Myrmecia pavida, the mandibulae would be distinctly lighter in color than the cranium.

Edit: Don't doubt us, together we have over 30 years of experience, we know what we're doing.

[Messorus]

Antstore is wrong, the workers of Myrmecia pavida are between 22-26mm big.

you magically know they are "Myrmecia brevinoda"

Me and the team of Antforum.be determined the species after looking at the geographical location and by following the determination key for Myrmecia.
In case it would be Myrmecia pavida, the mandibulae would be distinctly lighter in color than the cranium.

Edit: Don't doubt us, together we have over 30 years of experience, we know what we're doing.

Yes, so this must be bigger than Dorylus ant queen, the largest ant on the world, if they are around 4cms....! You wrote they are twice bigger than pavida

[McK]

I am talking about the workers, not the queens (or the males).

[JimmyVe]

Very nice McK. Great pictures to. Seems like a few people here are jealous. lol