20 replies to this topic

[Lucy]

Hi guys,

I found this queen two weeks ago in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Some people in Facebook groups have suggested that she may be Ochetellus glaber or some sort of Technomyrmex - both of these types of queens look pretty similar to her, but I'm not totally sure, so I thought I'd ask here for some help.

 

Location of collection: Doncaster, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

 

Date of collection: 17th of September 2016 in the afternoon.

 

Habitat of collection: In some grassy soil beside my concrete driveway. The "soil" isn't soft, it's sort of packed ground like clay - she was just walking around on top of it and hiding under plant leaves. There are small ant holes with colonies of little black ants in that area, I assume she's a queen of that species.

 

Length: 5 and a half mm

 

Coloration, hue, pattern and texture:  She's either black or brown, her legs and pincers are an orange colour. Lighter stripes on the gaster. Judging by the photos, I think she has some hairs but it's hard to tell. She seems more shiny than dull.

 

 

Edited by Lucy, September 29 2016 - 7:27 PM.

[chickenman297]

She looks like an iridomyrmex purpureus

 

 

Edit: Looking at the length, seems a little short so take my ID with a grain of salt.

Edited by chickenman297, October 5 2016 - 12:40 AM.

[Batspiderfish]

As I said in the other forum, the presence of an acidepore acidopore eliminates the Dolichoderinae subfamily -- including Iridomyrmex, Ochetellus, and Technomyrmex. She is a formicine queen with 12 antennal segments, so probably something from Nylanderia or Prolasius. We need to count the teeth on the mandibles and get a look at the hair coverage of the antennal scapes. A well-lit picture of the side of the mesosoma might help as well.

Edited by Batspiderfish, January 17 2017 - 6:08 AM.

[kellakk]

Why are your pictures so small? I agree that some contrast to bring out the hairs on this ant would help with IDing it.

[Lucy]

Apologies for the small photos, I thought it would be preferred as the originals were very large and I had seen mods commenting on other peoples' threads saying they edited the title with "large photos" as if it were a problem. I'll leave the photos large next time. These photos are taken in daylight, so I'm not sure if I can get it much lighter/with better contrast, but I can try.

[dspdrew]

... I had seen mods commenting on other peoples' threads saying they edited the title with "large photos" as if it were a problem.

 

That was probably on a different forum. They're no problem here, as the forum software will automatically shrink them to the maximum size allowed.

[Lucy]

One of my queens of this species now has 3 nanitics, I've got a macro lens for my iPhone on the way which will hopefully help to identify them.

(this is just with my phone without a macro lens, hopefully we'll get much better shots when it arrives)

Edited by Lucy, December 2 2016 - 5:49 AM.

[NZAntKeeper]

Hmm that queen really looks like a few of my queens. They said it could be Nylanderia.

[Lucy]

I got some macro shots of one of these queens with her colony - I'm not sure if it's close or sharp enough to help ID. The green colouring is from their food being dyed, not a part of the sp. usual colourations.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Lucy]

I also took a video of them.

 

[Batspiderfish]

Now that we can see workers, I'm fairly certain this is a Nylanderia sp. Prolasius have a raised propodeum. Nylanderia are quite hairy.

Edited by Batspiderfish, January 15 2017 - 11:12 PM.

[Lucy]

Now that we can see workers, I'm fairly certain this is a Nylanderia sp. Prolasius have a raised propodeum. Nylanderia are quite hairy.

These little ones definitely have hair on the gasters

[dspdrew]

Wait 'till they get pupae too. Nylanderia pupae are always naked (no silk cocoon).

[Martialis]

There seems to be a "naked" pupae in an earlier photo.

[Lucy]

These girls have naked pupae, no cocoons

[Canadian anter]

I think this is Prolasius

[Batspiderfish]

I think this is Prolasius

On which basis? I believe that the more typical shape of the propodeum and the hairiness of the workers (particularly on the head and mesosoma) is pretty damning.

Edited by Batspiderfish, January 16 2017 - 9:13 AM.

[Aaron567]

As I said in the other forum, the presence of an acidepore eliminates the Dolichoderinae subfamily -- including Iridomyrmex, Ochetellus, and Technomyrmex. She is a formicine with 12 antennal segments, so probably something from Nylanderia or Prolasius. We need to count the teeth on the mandibles and get a look at the hair coverage of the antennal scapes. A well-lit picture of the side of the mesosoma might help as well.

 

What is an acidepore? just curious

[Batspiderfish]

 

As I said in the other forum, the presence of an acidepore eliminates the Dolichoderinae subfamily -- including Iridomyrmex, Ochetellus, and Technomyrmex. She is a formicine with 12 antennal segments, so probably something from Nylanderia or Prolasius. We need to count the teeth on the mandibles and get a look at the hair coverage of the antennal scapes. A well-lit picture of the side of the mesosoma might help as well.

 

What is an acidepore? just curious

 

You caught me misspelling "acidopore" again.

An acidopore is an evolutionary feature of the Formicinae subfamily of ants (all ants belong to the family Formicidae). It's a ring of hairs found at the tip of the gaster. It presumably helps to direct formic acid, which all of these ants use instead of stings. With an experienced eye, you can recognize the shape of a gaster which has an acidopore even if the hairs are out of view.

[James C. Trager]

Definitely Nylanderia, probably, well I won't go there, because the Australian species need work, but right from the first post I've thought Nylanderia. The second image in post #9 above has a nice lateral view of a worker, showing the distinctive stout pilosity (standing hairs) of that characterize this genus. 

Edited by James C. Trager, January 17 2017 - 6:09 AM.