Manica rubida
DifficultyAdvanced · 7/7
Species comparison
Manica rubida vs Myrmica rubra
Side by side: difficulty, size, growth, climate, hibernation and nuptial flights, from the data and sources of each species sheet.
Head to head
| Manica rubida | Fact | Myrmica rubra |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping | ||
| Difficulty | ||
7/7 Advanced | Difficulty | Easier5/7 Intermediate |
| Escape risk | ||
Medium | Escape risk | Medium |
| Diet | ||
SugarInsects | Diet | SugarInsects |
| Best nests | ||
Ytong nest · Naturalistic setup · Test tube setup | Best nests | Ytong nest · Naturalistic setup · Sandwich nest |
| Colony | ||
| Growth | ||
Fast | Growth | Fast |
| Colony size | ||
Reaches 3,000 workers | Colony size | Reaches 10,000 workers |
| Workers | ||
5–9 mm All the same size | Workers | 4–6 mm All the same size |
| Queen | ||
10–13 mm | Queen | 5–7 mm |
| Colony founding | ||
Semi-claustral One or more queens | Colony founding | Semi-claustral Several queens |
| Defense | ||
Bites · Painful sting | Defense | Bites · Stings |
| Climate | ||
| Nest temperature | ||
20–28 °C | Nest temperature | 18–25 °C |
| Nest humidity | ||
50–70 % | Nest humidity | 50–70 % |
| Hibernation | ||
5–10 °C Oct – Mar | Hibernation | 5–8 °C Oct – Mar |
| Nuptial flights | ||
Apr – Jun Hot days | Nuptial flights | Aug – Sep Calm weather |
| Native range | ||
Europe, Middle East | Native range | Europe, Asia |
Size to scale
Manica rubida
Workers · 5–9 mmQueen · 10–13 mmMyrmica rubra
Workers · 4–6 mmQueen · 5–7 mm
Their year side by side
Manica rubida : Hibernation: Oct – Mar, Nuptial flights: Apr – Jun
Myrmica rubra : Hibernation: Oct – Mar, Nuptial flights: Aug – Sep
Months for temperate Europe and the Mediterranean. The weather decides the exact days, so flights can come earlier or later where you live.
How to tell them apart
Manica rubida
Large, slender workers in amber to reddish-brown with a darker head and a very shiny gaster that is darker at the rear; they look like oversized Myrmica but have no long spines on the back of the thorax. The excavated soil is piled into a crater around the nest entrance, which also gives a colony away in the field.
- Watch out Founding queens hunt for themselves, so make sure they can reach food from the first day: a small outworld or very regular feeding, and once the first larvae appear a small protein piece she can carry at least once a day. Keepers who raised many colonies feed once or twice a day at that stage.
- Tip Offer a gradient from damp to fairly dry instead of a soaked nest. A keeper who gave a colony three chambers from wet to nearly dry found it living in the driest one, but small colonies are also very sensitive to a nest that dries out.
Myrmica rubra
Reddish-brown to rusty-red workers with a darker head, a shiny gaster and two sharp spines on the back of the thorax. They are easy to mix up with other Myrmica such as Myrmica ruginodis, M. scabrinodis and M. sabuleti, so a sure species ID usually needs a microscope, and the queen is only a little bigger than a worker.
- Tip Keep the nest damp all the time. Keepers favor plaster nests for this species, and a Ytong block that dries out too fast does better standing in a tray of water, so the ants can choose between a wet bottom and a drier top.
- Watch out Heat and dryness are what kill this species. A warm room or a nest that dries out can cause sudden die-offs, so keep the colony in the coolest spot of the home and never let the water reservoir run empty.
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