ANTSTORE World of Ants

[amrik singh]

Update.
The growth of the largest colony ( presumably Tetramorium sp.E ) is now slower but the smaller one ( Tetramorium sp.) grow steadily .
I did give yesterday fresh red paprika seeds to both colony's .The T. sp.E did take it but the other colony did show little interest .
One more confirmation that one is first of all a seed eater that also hunt insects larvae and scavenge , the other is a hunter of insect larvae and scavenger who collect seeds occasionally.

[amrik singh]

The differences of behavior between the two species is obvious : One ,the presumably Tetramorium sp E is recruiting usually from the foraging columns so the recruited foragers arrived progressively but steadily and massive recruitment from the nest is less frequent . The other specie with smaller workers use normally group and mass recruitment directly from the nest ( even if they use the column covered track) to recruit for insect larvae or a dead fly .

[amrik singh]

The fast mass and group recruitment in the nest of the smaller specie is better for hunting slow moving preys . The bigger specie recruit usually from the covered track so the foragers come generally as a trickle more slowly but the bigger specie been bigger , stronger and more aggressive it capture and kill preys as fast as the smaller one.

[amrik singh]

Yesterday I did feed each Tetramorium colony a peace of mozzarella. They love it , it was quickly covered with ants ,cut in small pieces and take back to the nest.
Today did give to the Tetramorium sp.E a very attractive food : A hip of 8 fly from the size of a domestic fly to the size of a big
blue fly wile they were still exploiting seeds and Tenebrion pupae . This time they employ group and mass recruitement directly from the nest 30 cm away but still using a largely covered gallery until 6 cm from the fly's .They arrive massively as a column and covered the fly's after a few minutes.
Regarding the longevity of the workers during the active season it seems that they live around 6 months.

[amrik singh]

Hi,
I could not buy wax worms for a few weeks ,now that I give it again the Tetramorium's recruit massively ,kill and cut them to pieces withing a record time , it is really their favorite food . Since about two months the T. sp.E are so active that I can not
remove the covers to look in the nests : If I do it I will not be able to put back the cover without trapping and killing many workers so I will wait until they enter into hibernation.

[sianhilton]

Hi

I have just recieved my Tetramorium caespitum colony. The colony I got contained 8 queens and about 100 workers. This is a little strange as this species is nornally monogyn except during early colony formation when there can be a few queens. Little concerned that I have paid a premium for more than one queen when ultimately there can only be one i.e the weaker queens get killed off!!

Is it worth me seperating the queens out before it's too late?

[amrik singh]

Hi ,
Under the name of Tetramorium caespitum it have been discovered that there is a number of cryptic species genetically distinct . I do not know where your Tetramorium's come from but at least one is known to be polygin: It is Tetramorium spA that live above 1000 m altitude in the Alps area ,south France and Spain . It have many queens per colony and each colony more than one nest .

[amrik singh]

Update,
The Tetramorium colony's are doing very well but I think that at least T. sp.E may better have reserves of very small seeds to keep in the nest.The small and not to hard seeds like dandelion seeds that I did collect were never enough to constitute reserves and even the smallest bird seeds were to big and to hard for the Tetramoriums so I did just buy Chicory ( Cichorium intybus) seeds from "Antstore".They are not as enthusiastic taking these than fresh dandelion seeds but still they collect these seeds well .
It is said that Tetramorium of the caespitum group do not sting mostly because the stinger is to short to pierce the skin except where the skin is very thin .In fact the bigger workers of the supposed T.sp.E colony are well capable to sting but it cause a simple itching for a few seconds .

[amrik singh]

update,
The Tetramorium's of both colony's eat the chicory seeds but as a not very desirable food , they do not accumulate these seeds in their nest but just collect it slowly, by a few workers.
Yesterday I did connect a small accrilic tank with the ground covered ,with a thin layer(2or3mm thick)of sand-loam, to the ( supposed) Tetramorium caespitum 's tank. The hose had just been washed so it did still contain droplets of water .Quickly the ants accumulate in the tube but stopped where the water droplet were , when the passage became safe they recruit massively to the small tank despite the fact that there were no food in it. Eventually I dropped three wax worms in it . Immediately they swarmed on these massively like small army ants. After more than 24 hours large number of workers are still running about in their new hunting ground.

[sianhilton]

Hi Amrik

The spec I have comes from Asia.
Does spec A come from this part of the world?

How do this spec compare to spec E?
I assume that Multi queen colonies = Very rapid colony growth?

Cheers

[amrik singh]

Hi Sianhilton ,
I just give the name of Tetramorium sp.A as an example but there are a number of species of Tetramorium in the world who have more than one queen per colony for example Tetramorium tsushimae.
Now fast growth of the colony at the beginning depend of good living conditions an plenty of the right food then it is limited by the number of workers working to feed and clean the brood so later with more workers more brood can be brow up to adult ants.
Later when the maximum egg production of the single queen attain adult stage the population grow more slowly and the colony produce more winged ants. Eventually the growth stopped and the energy of the colony is entirely use to produce winged ants.
In polygine colony the maximum growth rate of the colony can continue in theory for ever and the colony may have many nests .
Tetramorium caespitum and most other species of the Tetramorium caespitum group have a single queen but still they can rietch quickly a population of 10000 workers and the colony attain eventually 30000 workers.

[amrik singh]

Today scouts of the Tetramorium caespitum colony find a way out and when I realized it hundreds of ants were foraging on the table so it took about one hour to fix the problem and capture most of the stray ants: Nothing lost except time and few workers.

[amrik singh]

update,
The day before yesterday I did give a piece of mozzarella cheese to each of my colony's of Tetramorium sp.E ,T.sp. and the three colony's of Tetramorium caespitum living under the pavement around my house.They all love it and after a short time it was completely covered with ants cutting of small pieces.
The grow rate of my two Tetramorium colony's is increasing again so I am sure the nests will become soon overcrowded and it will become more and more difficult to prevent brake-outs so at least for next spring maybe still this season I must have new, bigger nests and "outside worlds".

[amrik singh]

Update,
Yesterday evening I came back home about 24 h absence and again an even more massive brake out of the Tetramorium sp. E . This time it is not without damages they invaded and destroy my two Solenopsis colony's , one had already 60 to 80 workers and had very well close nest with only one very small hole for the passage of the foragers but the Tetramorium were already in the test tube and no trace was left of the Solenopsis when I looked . I am still catching ants today and I estimate that at least 200 workers were loss .
So I must admit that the accommodations for such big Tetramorium colony have became totally inadequate .

[sianhilton]

Hi Amrik

Sorry to hear about your out break and subsequent loss of your Solenopsis colony. I am very familiar with outbreaks as my colony of Pheidologeton diversus is now huge and every so often I am greeted my marching column of ants accross the floor. Solenopsis are normally good at defense and use gastor flagging to protect food / defend their nests. Which Solenopsis spec. do you have?