New to any keeping and have 2 queens? I'd like help with

[Sargentnoid]

Hello I'm from little rock Arkansas and I found my first queens about a month ago the one in the test tube (it's a small tube about 10mm across) I found 2 of and the one on the plastic container I found a small colony many 20 or so workers and I think more then 1 queen (although I'm not sure of that) thanks inadvance for any help









Hopefully the images work

[Batspiderfish]

The first queen is Camponotus sp., possibly C. discolor or C. decipiens.

The other queen is a somewhat rare find, a Formica social parasite from the microgyna group. Unfortunately it is extremely unlikely that she is mated and you should put the colony sample back and look for dealates in the coming weeks. If you do manage to find one, she will need about 6 Formica pupae.

Don't forget to measure the ants in the future.

[antnest8]

just a question batspiderfish. Are you a myrmecologist or just a really big ant enthusiast

[Batspiderfish]

just a question batspiderfish. Are you a myrmecologist or just a really big ant enthusiast

Just an older ant enthusiast. AntsCanada doesn't really have anybody that can reliably identify North American ants, so I'm filling that niche in the hopes of unveiling the diversity that many new hobbyists don't yet notice. Ant forums used to have myrmecologist members before ants were commoditized.

[antnest8]

how did you get to be such a good identifier?

[Batspiderfish]

how did you get to be such a good identifier?

8+ years and familiarity through great resources such as these:
https://www.antweb.org/
http://mississippientomologicalmuseum.org.msstate.edu/Researchtaxapages/Formicidaepages/Identification.Keys.htm#.WxW3LYoh2AY
http://www.navajonature.org/ants/navajo-ants.html
https://hol.osu.edu/
http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Species_Accounts

[Sargentnoid]

If it helps any these are the ants that the one you said was a Formica queen are with and someone in the colony is producing brood

[Sargentnoid]

Also took some more pics of the Camponotus sp.queen this is the second one I caught




And this is the first one I caught that was kind of unexpected as I was sitting on the toilet in my house and it walked out into the floor (also I just got my first worker in this one)

[Batspiderfish]

If it helps any these are the ants that the one you said was a Formica queen are with and someone in the colony is producing brood

Oh! Hey! These are pallidefulva group workers, and I just noticed that the queen in the picture seems to have been missing the wings on one side. Maybe this is a colony that she already infiltrated! Hang onto them and give it a shot. Take good care of them! I'd like to see how this goes.

Can we get any shots of them close together? Microgyna-group queens are typically close to the same size as her workers.

[Sargentnoid]

Not a great picture but you can see one of the queens on the right next to the tube I am pretty sure I saw another queen that ran and hid. I am in the process of getting a formicarium setup for them (wasn't planning on having a colony quite so soon)