9 replies to this topic

[aqandres4]

This ant queen is Brachymyrmex sp./ It's possibly Brachymyrmex patagonicus.

Title:
1. Hialeah, Florida, U.S.A.. (ie: city/town, state/province, country).
2. Today's date: 7/2/2016 (this lets people know whether it's a new thread or an old one that has just been updated or resurrected).
 
Body:
1. Under dirt that is under small plants that I could easily take apart.
2. Date of collection: 7/2/2016
3. Habitat of collection A small grassy area.
4. It's not really big. It's like 1/8 - 1/6 of an inch. They're really small.
5. It's mostly brown, its gaster is also brown and it has yellow lines on it.
6. Distinguishing characteristics: It's super small and it's polygynous (since I found it with many other similar looking queens.
7. Nest description: It had many similar queen ants (I'm pretty sure it was the same one, I just don't know much about ants so I can't say if it was for sure), it was found under dirt less than an inch down. The plants were connected to the dirt so when I pulled the plants the dirt was also taken off and I saw a lot of queen ants.
 
Here are a few pictures (just go to the links):
 

 

 
I'm sorry for not having any pictures here to show you all, they might not help.
 
Thank you if you tried to help!

Edited by aqandres4, July 21 2016 - 6:48 PM.

[LC3]

Pictures would be really helpful to properly ID your ant. Otherwise we're all just making blank guesses. 

[Batspiderfish]

Pictures are going to be a necessity.

Edited by Batspiderfish, July 2 2016 - 7:25 PM.

[aqandres4]

Pictures are going to be a necessity.

There are now pictures in the thread. Thank you.

[Batspiderfish]

Looks to be one of the east coast's summer fliers, Lasius alienus.

 

Wait, sorry. Looking back over some of the details.

 

Brachymyrmex sp., likely Brachymyrmex patagonicus. Jumped the gun on that one.

If you are capturing queens from a mature colony, be sure to grab some workers too. Foundress queens have stored nutrition (including their wing muscles) that are used up to start a colony. After the queen and the colony further mature, the queen often changes to produce more eggs. Starting from scratch again would be a challenge.

Also, FYI, the scientific standard, millimeters, is used for identification. 

Edited by Batspiderfish, July 3 2016 - 10:24 AM.

[aqandres4]

Looks to be one of the east coast's summer fliers, Lasius alienus.

 

Wait, sorry. Looking back over some of the details.

 

Brachymyrmex sp., likely Brachymyrmex patagonicus. Jumped the gun on that one.

If you are capturing queens from a mature colony, be sure to grab some workers too. Foundress queens have stored nutrition (including their wing muscles) that are used up to start a colony. After the queen and the colony further mature, the queen often changes to produce more eggs. Starting from scratch again would be a challenge.

Also, FYI, the scientific standard, millimeters, is used for identification. 

Thanks! (I don't have anything that measures millimeters, sorry about that.) <--- I'll see if I can get something that measures millimeters.

Edited by aqandres4, July 8 2016 - 9:07 PM.

[aqandres4]

Oh, I wasn't capturing queens from mature colonies. They recently just moved in there during the nuptial flight and made it as their founding chamber and they were all together. That was a pretty smart move for them to do.

 

I just checked them today, one has eggs while the other I don't know if she has eggs but most likely because she's inside the cotton because I made a little hole when I pushed it down to block the water.

[Bryansant]

aquandres4, It's hard to see the details in the photos you added to this post, but check out my ID request and see if your queens and workers (when they eclose) look like this: http://www.formicult...tx-may-21-2016/

[aqandres4]

aquandres4, It's hard to see the details in the photos you added to this post, but check out my ID request and see if your queens and workers (when they eclose) look like this: http://www.formicult...tx-may-21-2016/

 

Alright, thank you. I did read your post in my phone. I just didn't remember to reply to you. I'm sorry.

[Bryansant]

No worries - no expectation of a reply! Just trying to help out I remember looking at your photos after you first posted them and thinking mine looked similar.