6 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

1. Location of collection:  Ice House Canyon, Mt. Baldy, California.
2. Date of collection:  4-8-2014.
3. Habitat of collection:  Pine/Oak Forest.
4. Length (from head to gaster):  16mm
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture:  Black head, black thorax, gaster anterior yellowish orange and posterior black, yellowish orange legs.
6. Distinguishing characteristics:  
7. Anything else distinctive: 
8. Nest description: 

 

Queen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Major 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Major 2

 

 

 

 

 

Male

 

 

 

 

 

Nest


 
 
Habitat

[dspdrew]

This keyed out to C. vicinus, but the colors sure are different than any I have seen online.

[Crystals]

Wow.  Vicinus? 

I never saw one with that coloration before, but maybe there are different color morphs down south?

[dspdrew]

They definitely do have a large variation of colors, but yeah, orange seems strange.

[dspdrew]

James C. Trager thought C. sansabeanus was the most likely ID for these as you can see in the original ID thread over on Antfarm.yuku.com (http://antfarm.yuku....Canyon-Mt-Baldy).

 

I think I now agree. The scapes sure are long for C. sansabeanus, but whatever... Camponotus keys don't seem to be very reliable.

 

I just sent a specimen to gcsnelling too, so maybe he might have an opinion on it.

[Chromerust]

That sounds good to me Drew, I'm kind of tired of not having a ID for them. Sansabeanus it is. It's most likely correct anyway, and if anyone has the best guess it would be Dr.T.

[Miles]

I sure doubt that this is Camponotus vicinus - C. sansabeanus seems like a much better fit.