Predators

[Wade]

While looking for info on honeypot ants (no luck ), I stumbled on the latin for the dinosaur ants- Dinoponera longipes.

The bugs I mentioned earlier were not ambush bugs (family Phymatidae), but stink bugs (family Pentatomidae). Most stink bugs feed on plant fluids, but a few are predatory. I'll let you know when I get them again!

Wade

 

[Navaros]

Thanks for trying to help Wade. I appreciate it! My main thing is I don't know how to set the ants up. Aside from that they are pretty straight forward humidity is probably low since they are a desert species, and you feed them fruit/bugs. That is awesome, I didn't know there were any carnivorous stinkbugs!

 

[Darkant]

wow, these dinosaure ants are reallly HUGE, eating frogs, mice they are as big as a grasshopper =D

i would LOVE to get them....:}

nope info about honey put ants didn't work out here either, do you have the latin name?

 

[Steven]

wow, these dinosaure ants are reallly HUGE, eating frogs, mice they are as big as a grasshopper

if you find any european dealer who sells them,.. keep me informed,... they are truely intresting :}

 

[wayne the pain]

at a show in london not long ago there was a dealer selling a colony of honey pot ants

 

[Wade]

Honeypot ants are the genus Myrmecocystus.

Wade

 

[Navaros]

Yes, they are Myrmecocystus. I''m sure they are about the same as any other desert ants in care. I just don't know where to begin. They are very cool ants, there is a group of specialized workers who hang from chamber ceilings and act as food dispensers. Their abdomens swell and act as a jar to hold honey. They eat nectars, fruits, pollen, etc. During the seasons where there is little food, the entire colony relies on the "jar" ants. And people eat them too. Supposedly can buy them in stores in the west as candy. They are supposed to taste really good.

 

[Darkant]

well, i found a nice website, with both dinosaur ants and honey pot ants, maybe it helps you a little. But i couldn't find a setup plan

http://www.sasionline.org/antsfiles/pages/dino/Husbandry.html

 

[Wade]

Ha! I first learned about them in that very same article! Only it was on paper when I read it. The online version is better because it has pictures!

Wade

 

[Navaros]

Cool. Hey,I was wondering, what species of ants are the ones that live with millipedes? That would be cool in captivity.

 

[Darkant]

ants living together with MILIPEDE!! :?
never heard of that, i did hear of ants living together with woodlice, and that where L. niger.......
but i think it depends on the kind of woodlice you take

 

[Navaros]

Taken from:
http://herper.com/myriapods/strange.html

Army Recruits

Hopkin and Read mention that several species of polydesmid millipedes travel and live with army ants in South America. They live in the ant nests and scavenge food they come across, helping to clean out organic debris and mold in the ant nest. When the ants move to a new location, the millipedes travel in the center of the ant column, or are even carried by worker ants.

* Hopkin, S.P., and H.J. Read. 1992. The Biology of Millipedes. New York: Oxford University Press.

There are some cool millipedes on that page.

 

[Darkant]

that's what i call coorperation =D

 

[Bug collecter]

Sorry to go a bit off topic but i saw a wildlife documentary and it had ants that made a raft out of themselves to transport their young and themselves across water to other parts of the jungle. Can anyone tell me this species please? thanks.

 

[Longbord1]

hey where are Dinoponera longipes found?

 

[Wade]

Originally posted by Bug collecter
Sorry to go a bit off topic but i saw a wildlife documentary and it had ants that made a raft out of themselves to transport their young and themselves across water to other parts of the jungle. Can anyone tell me this species please? thanks.

Most likley these were army ants. They're nomadic and also build shelter for the queen and larvae from their bodies as well.

Wade

 

[Wade]

Originally posted by Longbord1
hey where are Dinoponera longipes found?

Although I said CA before, it's actually Peru, which would make them SA.

Wade

 

[Darkant]

Originally posted by Wade
Most likley these were army ants. They're nomadic and also build shelter for the queen and larvae from their bodies as well.

Wade

Yeah your right, it must have been the army ants, They can march all day long......just like the orks in Lord of the Rings =D