Leaf Cutting Ant Forum

Taxonomy:
- Family: Formicidae
- Subfamily: Formicinae
- Genus: Myrmecia
- Species: pavida
- Binomial Nomenclature: [latin]Myrmecia pavida[/latin]

Origin: Australia
Features: Minor - Major castes, excellent sight and hunting abilities
Hibernation: Diapause July through to September at 10-15°C
Appearance of the queen: 26-30mm Brown-to-Light Brown/Red body, Black gaster, Visible Yellow tinge to mandibles
Appearance of the workers: 18-24mm Brown-to-Light Brown/Red body, Black gaster, Visible Yellow tinge to mandibles

Nest building: Soil, Test tube, Ytong
Food: sugar water, insects, fruit
Temperature: 26 - 28°C, but can tolerate much lower temperatures, 5-15°C
Humidity: 50 - 60% (Dry, desert conditions)

Well I find myself in the rare position of owning the beautiful, the famous, [latin]Myrmecia pavida[/latin]. The small colony is absolutely amazing, the Queen is huge and I think there is also a larger worker amongst the group. They are quick to detect movement and even as I was moving my hand around in the setup, they were following my hands.

The colony numbers:

Queen: 1
Workers: 5
Pupae: 1
Larvae: 2
Eggs: 4

Pictures are not great but here we go:

Here's the macro shots of the worker I got out yesterday:







And here's a video of the worker, very calm I have to add:

Nice video! I wouldn't like to be bitten by her!

Raj, you need to be soo careful with this colony. There is no room for errors with such a small number. They look amazing. You have sourced some fantastic ants! A real serious member of the Hymenopteran society of enthusiasts. Drop this medic milarky and go into research. Do what you love!

The sixth worker eclosed sometime yesterday. I checked this morning and saw the light coloured worker but didn't stop to take a picture. I managed to spot 1 larger larva which will have been feasting on the small cricket which was happily murdered by these ants.

Things are professing very well, the larva has grown considerably in size after eating the cricket, there are now 2 more mini crickets ready for the larva to feast on and 1 medium cricket also. The Queen has settled down and laid another nine eggs which takes the total to 10, exciting stuff!

Stats so far:

Queen: 1
Workers: 6
Pupae: 0
Larvae: 1
Eggs: 10

At least another four eggs laid in the last 24hrs.

Well, things are progressing a lot faster than I imagined . The larva has spun a cocoon with the assistance of some sand brought into the boiling tube by the workers. In doing so there is a red sand pupa. The eggs have been moved away from the pupa and closer to the cotton wool.

This small colony is doing well, they take about two standard sized crickets per day and there are now four very large larvae, development is surprisingly faster than I expected . The larvae have been feeding on the crickets and increasing in size along the way. The two cocoons remain, but soon I reckon they will eclose, in a couple of weeks or so.