Share your Ant Journals, Youtube Channels, and Blogs with the global ant community
Moderator: ooper01
-
ooper01
- Head Moderator
- Posts: 835
- Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 1:07 am
- Location: Utah, USA
-
Contact:
Post: # 12991Post
ooper01
Mon Oct 03, 2016 10:21 am
Batspiderfish wrote:Monomorium minimum lacks sculpting on much of the body (giving them their smooth, shiny appearance), which Tetramorium are in excess of. The rough texture on the head and mesosoma are givaways. Monomorium queens are very slender, with the mesosoma barely half the width of the gaster, when viewed from above. Another detail, although it can't be picked up from the photos, is that Monomorium minimum have no propodeal spines at all, while Tetramorium do have small ones (even the queen). Monomorium queens top out at around 5mm in length.
Well there you have it! It looks like I lied to several people who thought they were buying
Monomorium minimum when in fact they bought
Tetramorium sp E!

Thanks guys!!
~ ooper
Forum Moderator

-
JDSweetMeat
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Sat May 25, 2019 1:41 pm
- Location: Centralia, Illinois
Post: # 59341Post
JDSweetMeat
Mon Jun 10, 2019 11:13 am
ooper01 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 24, 2016 1:39 pm
nightxwolf88 wrote:I hope to see this colony grow as well. Monomorium was one of my target genus but had no luck my first year locating them.
I found too many. My little 7-year old son would come in the house with 2 or 3 and finally I just had to tell him I had enough of these queens. I probably collected 70-80 of them. Some I doubled and tripled up in same test tube. They co-founded the colony, but after nanitics arrived, they killed all but one queen (there is a word for that, can't think it right now).
One time he came in and wanted me to go outside with him. He found a few queens in a small sidewalk seam. We ended up pulling 20 queens out of that one spot! I put them all in one test tube, since they had already become roommates in the sidewalk seam. I think there are just two queens left. The past two or three weeks they have slowly been killing them off.
Maybe I'll create a post on it. I have a short video of two queens going at it.
Are you sure you had Monomorium? Many species of Monomorium are known for having multiple queens. It sounds like you might have misidentified some Tetramorium (which are generally monogynous) as Monomorium (which are generally polygynous). I mean, they are very similar species (physically).
-
ooper01
- Head Moderator
- Posts: 835
- Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 1:07 am
- Location: Utah, USA
-
Contact:
Post: # 60525Post
ooper01
Mon Jul 08, 2019 9:56 pm
I have since determined that I have Tetramorium, not Monomorium.

It was my first experience identifying queens back then a few years ago.
~ ooper
Forum Moderator

-
sartwell90
- Posts: 94
- Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:46 pm
- Location: South East Michigan
Post: # 60583Post
sartwell90
Tue Jul 09, 2019 11:44 am
I am about to start my own journal following my C. noveboracensis and T. sp E colonies. I found this to read on what other people are doing and was like... she looks exactly like my queen! I must have misidentified! But then I read further. Funny stuff.
Best of luck with your colony!

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests