The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Hello AntsCanada team. I mean no disrespect by this question, I'm just curious.
The Tetramorium hybrid nest is weird. I just can't imagine ants digging chambers with that shape. In the hybrid nest YouTube video, Mikey Bustos explains that it's based on the shape of the cracks under the sidewalk. He also says that the hybrid nests are based on research about what the ants make in the wild. So here is my question: what research do you have to suggest that Tetramorium make those odd rectangular chambers in the wild?
Thank you.

Tetramorium don't make tunnels that look like that; the design is inspired by the sidewalks for which "the pavement ant" gets its name. As humans, with our aesthetics and biases, we probably don't even come close to replicating an ant's nest as they appear in the wild, even when we're really trying. Only ants can do what ants do.

I disagree. I have seen wild Lasius nests that look like the Lasius hybrid nest, and the whole point of the hybrid nest is to be realistic and inspired by ants in nature.

MCWren wrote:Hello AntsCanada team. I mean no disrespect by this question, I'm just curious.
The Tetramorium hybrid nest is weird. I just can't imagine ants digging chambers with that shape. In the hybrid nest YouTube video, Mikey Bustos explains that it's based on the shape of the cracks under the sidewalk. He also says that the hybrid nests are based on research about what the ants make in the wild. So here is my question: what research do you have to suggest that Tetramorium make those odd rectangular chambers in the wild?
Thank you.

Thanks for the feedback MCWren. We understand the points you are making here and no disrespect is felt here. We always appreciate honest feedback from you guys and will include it as best we can in any upcoming changes we decide to make.

I appreciate the reply, but can you please answer my question? What research do you have to suggest that Tetramorium make those nests in the wild?

I believe the nests are designed to mimic certain aspects of said species nests, rather than a replica of the nest as a whole. This design makes sense, if you think about how the nest would be built under a side walk or in a brick path. There would be a lot of flat, and square surfaces among the custom tunnel work the ants would do with dirt.
If you add a digging medium to this hybrid nest such as sand or soil, and let them customize the flat square surfaces in the hybrid nest, i would imagine it would be pretty similar to a nest in the wild. At least the ones that happen to be built against or under these types of areas, like bricks or concrete slabs and such.
They call them hybrid nests because they have aspects of real nests, and laboratory style controlled nests alike in one usable form.
I found a cast of a Pogonomyrmex sp. nest here>>>
Here is a hybrid Pogonomyrmex sp. hybrid nest>>>
Solenopsis sp. cast>>>
Solenopsis hybrid>>>
Camponotus sp. nest>>>
Camponotus hybrid>>>
I my opinion they are pretty similar if you consider the space and size constraints that had to be met to make the nest usable for us.
If we kept our ants in replica nests, we wouldn't be keeping very many species other than Monomorium spp. and the such, that like tiny nests. maybe the occasional carpenter ant.

MCWren wrote:I appreciate the reply, but can you please answer my question? What research do you have to suggest that Tetramorium make those nests in the wild?

We have lifted cement blocks in the past and seen the networks created by Tetramorium. They looked very similar to the nest pattern we have designed for the Tetramorium Hybrid, with the exception that they were not perfectly linear as they are in the Hybrid. The Tetramorium Hybrid nest pattern was inspired by such findings in the wild.

Having said that, we can improve it by making it less linear. What suggestions would you have?

larynx wrote:I believe the nests are designed to mimic certain aspects of said species nests, rather than a replica of the nest as a whole. This design makes sense, if you think about how the nest would be built under a side walk or in a brick path. There would be a lot of flat, and square surfaces among the custom tunnel work the ants would do with dirt.
If you add a digging medium to this hybrid nest such as sand or soil, and let them customize the flat square surfaces in the hybrid nest, i would imagine it would be pretty similar to a nest in the wild. At least the ones that happen to be built against or under these types of areas, like bricks or concrete slabs and such.
They call them hybrid nests because they have aspects of real nests, and laboratory style controlled nests alike in one usable form.
I my opinion they are pretty similar if you consider the space and size constraints that had to be met to make the nest usable for us.
If we kept our ants in replica nests, we wouldn't be keeping very many species other than Monomorium spp. and the such, that like tiny nests. maybe the occasional carpenter ant.

Thanks for providing these pics and for your opinions on the Hybrids Larynx. Some of the pics you found and shared here were some that we used a year and a half ago to help form the nest designs

Currently I have no suggestions for you. However, this may change since I have a MASSIVE Tetramorium sp. E colony in my driveway and the surrounding yard. I remember a few days ago lifting a flat stepping stone in my yard, only to find a small Tetramorium sp. E satellite nest. It had some chambers in it, but I don't remember what they looked like, or even if they were clearly visible. Today (if it stops raining) I'll go out and take a picture to show you. In the future, I may update this thread with different pictures if I find any Tetramoriumnests with visible chambers, so keep an eye on this thread, ooper.

So, there is this crazy group of us who have already picked up bricks and looked under pavement, and in trees and burrows to see what different animals nests look like...... Myrmecologists, Entomologists, Herpetologists, zoologists and also nerds some times.
No need to disturb your friends in the yard.
Linear Tetramorium sp. nests in the "wild".








Now, the under side of these bricks and cement show a variety of tunnel shapes including, round, round with one flat side, round with two flat sides, three or four flat sides, and any combination in between.




I'm positive "all" nests of Tetramorium sp. don't look like this, but the ones actually crammed in between flat surfaces do. And that would be the majority of them we encounter.

That being said, ants have been her long before we were here putting in all these bricks, pavement and concrete everywhere. This tells us that these linear shapes aren't their original construction plans for their nests. Only modified versions due to us intruding on them so much.