Myopopone castanea

Myopopone castanea
 
Introducing Myopopone castanea - The fascinating Amblyoponine species from South East Asia. This is the only species in its genus!
 
Originating from the tropical forests of South East Asia, Myopopone castanea is a captivating species of ant often found in rotten tree stumps/logs. These glossy black ants exhibit unique characteristics, including queen-worker dimorphism (queen is large than the worker), worker polymorphism, and species-specific behaviour.
 
Queens are known for their relatively large size, with some queens reaching 18mm in size. In contrast, the workers display a remarkable variation in body size ranging from 7-16mm. 
 
The founding stage can be a little tricky due to the semi-claustral nature of the queens. To successfully establish a colony, it is crucial to provide the queen with a protein-rich diet. Freshly killed insects should be offered every 4-5 days to ensure optimal growth of the larvae. This feeding strategy will ensure higher chances of success during the foundation.  
 
These ants exhibit fascinating behaviour in the form of larval hemolymph (that's insect blood to you and I) feeding, a behavior similar to that observed in Mystrium spp. or commonly known as 'vampire ants'. Workers carefully pinch the larvae with their mandibles and consume the nutrient-rich hemolymph from the wounds. This intriguing behaviour highlights their unique adaptations to their natural environment. 
 
In the wild, colonies often depend on beetle larvae as a source of nutrition. However, we have found this species to readily take small diced mealworms and wax worms. 
 
M.castanea colonies do not typically have more than a couple hundred individuals and do well in plaster, Ytong and naturalistic (i.e. bioactive) formicaria. Temperature and humidity parameters should fall between 20-25C and 50-60%. 
 
With their glossy black colour, captivating behaviour, and cryptic behaviour, this is certainly a wonderful species to anyone's collection.
 
It is illegal and strictly frowned upon to release any non-native ants into the wild.