The Infancy of a Grand Empire - POB Photo Contest - INSECTS

Many insects are my favorite animals. When I learned that this week's photo contest's theme was insects, I couldn't resist. I have read a great deal about many insects since I was a young lad. My first favorite family was crickets and grasshoppers!

My latest and most enduring obsession has been the order Hymenoptera. This comprises sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants.

The first time I created a do it yourself ant farm (out of a cheese container) it was a smashing success. The host species is a very common species here in America. Although the taxonomy behind the Tetramorium genus is "chaotic", that species is now officially called Tetramorium immigrans.

This is the first time in years I have been able to recreate the situation, while also perfecting the methods. Actually, it failed. Back in late spring, I caught a freshly mated princess ant. They mate in the air after a good rain in massive gatherings of many colonies. I found her on the hood of the company truck, stuck by her wings.

Long story short, the founding princess died.

Luckily, I didn't put all my eggs in one terrarium. I had caught a second princess, only I didn't have the resources to build another fully equipped and specialized terrarium. So I just dumped her in my second big terrarium, knowing full well that like a beaver, she has the potential to fundamentally change the environment.

Of course, I was wrong. The overwhelmingly successful springtail population in that little world must have disturbed the princess enough for her to scramble to the surface. I recollected her, fed her a fruit fly saturated in sweet mixture, and dumped her into the new and improved ant farm.

In her depleted state, I couldn't just send her in all on her lonesome again to start the process all over. So in order to accelerate the process, I... uh ...recruited some other workers. After they got acclimated to their new home, I gave them some protein for the first real generation.

A juvenile cell spider will do. The first ant that discovered it made a precise incision where the cephalothorax connects to the abdomen. There, she sat for over 12 minutes lapping up the oozing hemolymph. Then she ran excitedly back down the tunnel. She came back seconds later leading a squad of 4. Nobody else really did anything except one squad member that single handedly dragged the spider to the entrance of the shaft.

I took this shot, with the cautious springtail surrounded by 3 scouts. One scout faces and returns to the tunnel.

I used my brand new Xenvo macro lens, with 15x zoom, attached to my Pixel 7 phone. This colony looks to be succeeding. Hopefully I will have more opportunities to practice using my new toy, but it would seem I need a tripod...

I hope you have enjoyed my photo of two different insects (the spider does not count; it is an arachnid). There are still a couple of days left before this week's contest ends! You can still join.