2467 replies to this topic

[StopSpazzing]

Ill post pics later, but was fun. Also caught C. fragilis, C. clarithorax, even a C. vicinus. Oh and 3x L. occidental. These don't seem to be a species I have encountered yet, they are also massive.

 

Really want to get some of those honeypots...

Edited by StopSpazzing, July 9 2018 - 2:30 PM.

[dspdrew]

Boringmyrmex

 

[dspdrew]

 

 

Anyone go to the desert yet?

Drew went to the desert today, got tons of queens. He said pheidole, honeypots, and other queens flew (he even got some mexicanus!).

 

Where in the desert? I was east of Barstow today morning around 3am and didn’t see any flights. Lots of activities but no founding chambers or queens.

 

 
I checked there around 2:30 AM and it was as dead as can be. Not a single insect out anywhere. I couldn't understand how it would be that hot and humid, and soaked with rain, yet nothing out doing anything. Yucca Valley/Joshua Tree was completely different.

 

 

A cop car came by around 1am asking what I was doing, too. They were totally cool, and said they were just curious what a guy out in the middle of the desert was doing with a shovel.

I had the same thing happen to me in Lake of the Woods.

[AntsCalifornia]

Looks like I missed the yucca flight, I was busy that day. San Bernadino looks like it might have some flights though, could I maybe find C. fragilis or honeypots there? Also, I'm going to Needles Thursday through Saturday, does anyone know what types of ants live there?

[dspdrew]

BTW, I'm probably going back out early Wednesday morning.

[dspdrew]

Looks like I missed the yucca flight, I was busy that day. San Bernadino looks like it might have some flights though, could I maybe find C. fragilis or honeypots there? Also, I'm going to Needles Thursday through Saturday, does anyone know what types of ants live there?

 

You might find some in San Bernardino.

 

Needles has lots of cool species.

[dspdrew]

Yeah, lots of honeypots. Found an insane amount of C. fragilis, a handful of M. navajo, M. mexicanus, three "purplebacks" (undescribed honeypots), P. rugosus, and tiny bleh stuff like Boringmyrmex and Pheidole.

Those "purple-backs" aren't undescribed, they are just unidentifiable until they get workers. There are two or three, and possibly more different species with queens that color. The one's you found are most likely the ones I keyed out to M. mimicus a while back.

 

Interestingly, I found a whole bunch of them up in Big Bear on my way home from the desert yesterday. I'll be curious to see if these are M. mimicus too. I highly doubt they are M. wheeleri (the other species with queens that color). I actually saw quite a few very active Myrmecocystus nests in both locations that looked like M. mimicus.

[StopSpazzing]

Finally the images of Friday's catch

 

https://photos.app.g...Vb4vsB3op7RzGz6

highlights... from top to bottom:

• 3x C. ocreatus
• C. fragilis
• 2x Pheidole vistana/desertorum
• 2x C. clarithorax
• 3x L. occidentale
• C. vicinus

[miwu]

Anyone go to the desert yet?

Drew went to the desert today, got tons of queens. He said pheidole, honeypots, and other queens flew (he even got some mexicanus!).

Where in the desert? I was east of Barstow today morning around 3am and didn’t see any flights. Lots of activities but no founding chambers or queens.

I checked there around 2:30 AM and it was as dead as can be. Not a single insect out anywhere. I couldn't understand how it would be that hot and humid, and soaked with rain, yet nothing out doing anything. Yucca Valley/Joshua Tree was completely different.

A cop car came by around 1am asking what I was doing, too. They were totally cool, and said they were just curious what a guy out in the middle of the desert was doing with a shovel.

I had the same thing happen to me in Lake of the Woods.

Yeah, that was really weird. I saw some ant activities and one Solenopsis queen at a gas station and nothing else. Everything seemed right. I should’ve just gone to Yucca Valley.

[nurbs]

Yeah, found some near Needles last year what could possibly be M. semirufus.

 

 

 

 

Looks like I missed the yucca flight, I was busy that day. San Bernadino looks like it might have some flights though, could I maybe find C. fragilis or honeypots there? Also, I'm going to Needles Thursday through Saturday, does anyone know what types of ants live there?

 

You might find some in San Bernardino.

 

Needles has lots of cool species.

 

[dspdrew]

I think those might just be the orange and black species that also has the "purple-back" queens with those strange colors. Those alates do look like those queens. The color of the thorax seems to vary a lot.

[YsTheAnt]

Would I be able to catch them tommorow night?

[dspdrew]

Would I be able to catch them tommorow night?

 

Catch what?

[YsTheAnt]

Would I be able to catch them tommorow night?

Catch what?

I meant pretty much all the queens you guys were catching near Joshua Tree. Sadly I won't make it anyway, although the odds were against me to begin with .

[dspdrew]

That spot is done for now. Most of the chambers will be washed away from more rain, and the ones remaining will have queens too deep to make it worth while digging for them. There are new spots now that got even more rain. I'll be checking out the area all along Route 66 between Klondike and Fenner. I'm just hoping it's not closed due to flooding or a washed out road after all the storms I saw go through.

[soulsynapse]

24 hour rain fall as of 1:30 pm

 

 

Seems to be blowing to the south-southwest at the moment

Edited by soulsynapse, July 10 2018 - 12:41 PM.

[miwu]

Went to Joshua Tree just in time before the rain washed away the founding chambers. Spent a bit of time digging and got a handful of M. navajo and a P. rugosus. I was surprised with the low number of rugosus present. I did in the process accidentally kill a navajo and the only mexicanus I saw. Other than that I really enjoyed my first honeypot trip of the year. It started raining within a couple of hours and the founding chambers were no longer visible so I left early. On the way back I saw two Crematogaster queens at the gas station and I snatched them up.

[dspdrew]

Yeah, I thought it was really strange that P. rugosus weren't flying while I was out there. I finally saw two of them running around by the end of the day Sunday, but that was it.

[KBant]

What app or website do you guys use to track rainfall?

[soulsynapse]

I'm tired and pissed off that was the worst outing I've ever had

Edited by soulsynapse, July 11 2018 - 1:46 PM.