This video is a masterclass in field myrmecology, transforming a niche hobby into a valuable record of rare species and complex ecological behaviors. It successfully bridges the gap between amateur enthusiasm and professional biological observation.
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More Queen Ants - 1 Very Rare Queen! | Rare Species Sightings
Added:I had been hunting for a number of days and it had been bad. But finally, I managed to catch some queens.
[music] So, it all started 2 weeks ago. It was an impromptu hunting trip for the whole day. It [music] started great until we realized we spent hours going to the wrong place. But at least we found two workers of especially super rare species. One, [music] my dream species, the kalicus granulatus, Asian turtle ants. Look at [music] that. Why wouldn't this be a need for ant keepers?
And the next one, a super duper unique camponotus. Camponotus boti [music] subg genus mamml. Such a beautiful major. I feel that it's not easy to find camponotus as they fly at night and the queens don't forage. [music] So if you miss it, that's it. But at least for semicolustral queens, you can still find them even after flights while they forage for food. Like I said, we went to the wrong place and we had to go back.
We saw a trail of doliches dog. Even saw a queen budding, but I didn't want to catch. Not ready for this super colony.
And then it rained 4 hours, almost half a day. So we only had around 30 minutes after the rain to continue [music] before we make our way home. But I did see this super duper red Odon Pona transversa worker. Look at how red it is.
Then I even saw Dakama workers doing tandem run. It occurred to me after that to research [music] and that it could be a worker queen being led. Should have caught and tried keeping. A few days later, I happened to be near and decided to drop by the same area. Nothing at all except just some fun sites like a dynamax gigas minor worker, diaama, wings of huge termites, and again the super duper red odoner.
And then I managed to catch this Odon toponer queen. Seriously hope that it is the transversa and the [music] workers are red because I have found different varieties of amount of red workers.
Maybe their diet affects the redness.
The next day I dropped by again at the place I usually find small queens like the many pava I caught and saw a fully black tetramorium. is in the bicarinatum group probably [music] tetrammorium pacificum but unfortunately it was just a worker and since then I seriously became hooked trying to find the queen so beautifully fierce and then the next day we went on another hiking trip greeted by this huge caster camponotus worker I have never seen this huge [music] caster ratio tox and then a huge spider and then my new obsession which I had been trying to fine for weeks now.
Sudo neoponera rufipis. But again, unfortunately, it's a worker. It's so huge. Man, I love this [music] species so much. Even the worker is so huge.
Would be perfect in a formicarium [music] because you don't need to zoom in to see. Seriously, I had been trying to find this repon for quite some time now.
Then I found something interesting. A polyis worker. I think abdominalist bringing food into what I think is the nest in a hollow metal because there are no other exits. It's like a one piece structure with one hole. Super duper cool. And I found a Proxima colony digging holes. I did not know they can live [music] underground. Even did some research after this and found out that they do nest in the ground. It's quite funny because they look like they are specifically three nesters. Maybe because they are green and will blend in well. And then again on the 14th of July, we went for a super short [music] hike. Nothing much, but I found this what was supposed to be a very, very rare worker. Initially, I thought it was a queen because it looked bulky. Too bad it was a worker. This is in the genus Sarapachis. Even the name is cool, but they are in the Dorina sub [music] family, which means they raid other colonies and eat their brood. Ah, but anyways, thankfully it was not a queen.
[music] Otherwise, I'd be stressing about the diet.
The next night when I went to throw rubbish, I found this. This was what I had been hunting for, too. The Solenopsis Geminata, the fire ants. I can't believe it was right outside my house and did because I just got home 2 hours before I found this and it was definitely not there. It even look fresh. And because of this, I actually went around the whole block on different levels to check. [laughter] That must really look so suspicious late at night checking outside of people's homes.
It was definitely stressful. Oh, and earlier in the day, I found this queen on a random wall when I walked past. I thought it was an islandia. [music] Definitely not the same one as I had at home. This looked bigger, [music] but after catching, I realized it was not at full health. It was definitely a straggler. Turned out this was a paratraina longornness, the black crazy ants, and she was not supposed to be alone nor to be found in the day. There were people actually trimming [music] the trees right beside the wall. So probably it ran from there and I was right. She was not well and [music] died that very same day. And on the 17th it rained. So I decided to try a new place because the nearby wall I usually go to they spread pesticide to get rid of pest. And I think that killed many ants too because [music] since then it had been so quiet even after heavy rains.
And turned [music] out there was quite a flight that night. Not so much. Then I saw this weird thing going on like a ritual. I thought they were budding, but was weird because they didn't seem to be the same species. [music] So I tried to pick the queen up and see it was a nandria and apparently they were trying to eat it. And then I saw bright red ruby queens flying. First thing that came to mind was Solenopsis Geminata. Of course I couldn't be sure. Then there were these two [music] birds which I thought at first was so cute but then they swooped down and ate those red [music] queens. They immediately stopped being cute and they became my enemies [music] after that. And thankfully I found more tetrammorium by kerinatum.
The ones I already had, the halfway dilated one did not lay at all. And the one that did lay somehow seems like it had been eating and laying or infertile [music] because literally just eggs. So I'm thankful I found these five. I tried to do a one one one [music] and two queens format. Also I found another queen elsewhere on the same night. It was another nandria. Not the fluffy best maybe bernica. But seriously, it also looks like a brachimmeax. A fellow subscriber brought this species [music] up actually who also shared on the care for brekieim mermaids. Thank you so much for sharing and hopefully it benefits other fellow ant keepers who just caught [music] one. I will also be on the lookout for it because apparently they do exist here in my country. And back to this nandria. Even at night, it struck to me as different to flabby pace because the flabby pace which I recently showed have bright orange thorax while the head and gaster are dark while this one is definitely the same dark tone throughout the whole body. Maybe it's the same, but the workers will definitely show if they are different.
The flavipe's workers are orangey while burbanica's workers [music] are black.
And then late at night, I went to throw rubbish again and I saw this also above at the ceiling near my door, just like the tapoma and man.
But I knew this one was different because it was not as vibrant in color as the Anderman. So I blurred a few times but failed. And then I took an umbrella [music] to make it drop and caught it. Turned up to be the enemy of all ant keepers. [music] actually even non- ant keepers. The tapenoma melano the ghost ants. Now please don't hate me but I decided to give it a try because despite it being a pest, I can't deny the fact that the queen [music] and workers look super amazing color-wise. Of course, I got to take extra care and make sure they are always fully sealed and secured. And then yesterday, we did a hike on a new trail and thankfully found a new queen.
something awesome. But we also saw so many amazing [music] species of workers like this polyaki subgenus murma fully black somehow has like a bluish tins and the size is quite big. Definitely a musth have. And then we saw a colony of polyakis proxima with their brood all around. Seems like they were being raided by yellow crazy ants. [music] either that or all their nest was flooded because they were wet but odd because they don't have a proper trail rather they were all spread out and then I caught the first queen [music] at first I thought it was not the polyarchis proxima because I don't know why but somehow she looked bigger and also the lines on her gastra but turns out she is a proxima oh well I have some good news going on with the ones I already have very long overdue but still not past the founding phase at. So it doesn't hurt to have another backup.
Maybe with a huge gaster, it equates to higher [music] success rate. And what the first ever Polyakis Armata Queen I found [music] is a dead one. Initially, I thought it was a Proxima because of the lighting. Literally, when I'm editing this, I just noticed it was an Armata.
No, I need [music] to go back. Then I finally found this a small queen.
Polyakis too, but more to silver than gold. I didn't manage to video before capturing [music] because I got all too excited and it was moving very fast. I didn't want to lose it. But take a look [music] at this. Despite it being similar to Proxima, she is definitely more amazing. Look at the lines on her gast. Really like a flower about to bloom. And this is the Polyakis carbonaria. It is only about 1 cm long and in the polyrais inner mis group with the bright lighting it somehow has a gold tint but most angle she looks silverish and it's obvious to the naked eye. I'm so glad I got this. I'm sure I may have seen the workers but I have no idea how they look like. Online images aren't very trustworthy for now because they kept showing me different images but the same name. And that concludes this hunting video. Despite it not being as many new species as the other hunting videos, [music] I am still happy with all the new species I saw. If you don't know, the sudo neo ponera ruipus and polyakis armata are the two [music] species I have been searching for in my hikes. Next time, I'd love to try coming to the same place earlier in the morning. And that's it for this video.
Thank you so much for watching. See you.
>> [music]
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