A queen with eggs and larvae
When I had a look into the test tubes today, I saw that a queen had larvae as well as eggs. The larvae are wrinkled slightly while the eggs are smooth. I can’t wait for pupae to arrive! I now know what species these ants are; they are brachymyrmex. To find out I first looked at Ant Maps to see what species of ants exist in my area. Then, I searched the list of ants to find pictures of queen ants of each of these species. The confirmation that the queens I had were Brachymyrmex was this photo by Alex Wild. UPDATE they are not Brachymyrmex. See my Species Update.
I do not need to feed the queens until their first workers arrive. When the workers do arrive, the first thing I will feed them is honey diluted with water so it is easier to digest, or I will feed them beetle jelly, which is safe to feed to ants. The queen feeds the brood off of her back muscle stores she used during her mating flight. Most of this now unusable muscle is being fed to the brood.
Today I also used extension tubes which let me zoom in even further than before, and a diffuser to block some of the sun’s rays to reduce glare in the photos, and it worked very well since I saw the larvae. Below are some close up versions of the three smaller photos. Enjoy!
