pictures are taken by @Charlies_ants_ of one of our colonies he recieved.
Polyrhachis sp is a species that is originally from Thailand. I have not yet been able to formally identify. If anyone know the species name, contact us! But its likely very rare species in terms of retail sale in ant shops as I have yet to see an ant shop selling a species that looks exactly like this.
This species does have a shimmer but its more of a black/green matte shimmer compared to the green shimmer of a Polyrhachis Dives. Like the genus suggest they are a ground weaver species that will weave their nest in leaf litter or twigs or can even nest inside wood and will use their brood producing silk to weave their nest.
The queens seem very resilient to stress and seem to do well in captivity. Their care will be like other species such as Polyrhachis Dives or illaudata.
This is a brand-new species that we never had for sale, so we do not know more about their behaviour or their first workers an exciting adventure for any ant keeper!
Keeping difficulty: Intermediate (kept at least 1 or 2 European species or an exotic species)
Colony form: Monogyne
Queen size: 6-8mm Black/green matte shimmer
Worker’s size: 4-6mm
Food: honey water and insects
Temp: 24-28°C
Humidity: 30-50%
Founding: semi-clasutral with feeding
Colony size: 1-400 workers
Hibernation: No (They would benefit from 6-week diapause from October to March)
Live arrival guarantee:
We guarantee the live arrival of your Queen they come well packed in our jiffy bags which have two-sided padding as well as an additional layer of bubble wrap around our test tubes. We are the only company in the United Kingdom to offer our live arrival guarantee of your queen as well as an additional 14-day guarantee if the colony if kept in the original test tube for all our European species. Why do we do this? We are confident with our colony’s health and our packaging process as well as our care guides, we also believe in our customers and making sure they have a good ant keeping experience.
Live arrival guarantee we ensure the live arrival of the queen only upon delivery contact us within 24 hours of receiving the Queen dead on arrival with a picture of the dead queen and the original workers. DO NOT TRANSFER THE DEAD QUEEN OR WORKERS TO A NEST AS THIS VOIDS YOUR WARRNTY. For our additional 14-day guarantee for European species the Queen and workers must be kept in the original test tube sealed with the cotton and care sheet instructions followed if you want to keep this additional guarantee do not transfer to a nest or your warranty is VOIDED (we recommend you keep the 14-day warranty).
We have no control over the environment outside the test tube and have no influence in the conditions the responsibility once placed outside the test tube within the 14-day period the responsibility is with the buyer. 9 times out of 10 colonies die in the nest due to lack of water access, food, temperature, oxygen, or stress due to vibrations or exposure to excess light. If your colony does fail inside a nest contact us, we can advise what went wrong but it is up to you to buy another ant colony, you will succeed but sometimes it does not work the first time. Research is key to success with ant keeping and follow our guides.
