10 replies to this topic

[rbarreto]

1. Location (on a map) of collection: Ottawa Ontario

2. Date of collection: June 8th 2019 at around 7:30 PM.
3. Habitat of collection: On the pavement in the middle of the city, some small areas of trees and grass around.

4. Length (from head to gaster): 6 +/- 1mm
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: Head and thorax are orange, gaster goes from light orange to dark brown to yellow as seen in the pictures.
6. Distinguishing characteristics: I'm too tired to look up what might distinguish her right now, will update later
7. Distinguishing behavior: Drank a ton of honey, once I put her in a test tube she went straight to drinking water.
8. Nest description: N/A

9. Nuptial flight time and date: N/A

 

She's quite small and wouldn't stop running around so my pictures of her suck sorry. I found her near some Tetramorium colonies and at first thought she was a worker. Closer inspection with a macro lens shows wing scars which is awesome! I literally have no idea what species or genus she belongs to but I'm going to guess some sort of Myrmica sp.

 

If you guys need any specific angles or have any questions that will help yo guys ID her ask away!

 

 

 

 

This picture best shows the wing scars.

Edited by rbarreto, June 7 2019 - 9:40 PM.

[AntsBC]

Stenamma sp., probably Stenamma brevicorne. The other option is Stenamma diecki; the two are virtually impossible to tell apart without very good photographs.

 

For a more conclusive identification, I would appreciate closer photo's of her head and from all the classic angles (front, top, and side).

 

The keys to Stenamma are quite difficult, but if you wish to dabble in them yourself, here are some links you could use to ID her:

 

http://www.antwiki.o...revicorne#Queen , http://www.antwiki.o...ma_diecki#Queen

Edited by AntsBC, June 7 2019 - 10:29 PM.

[gcsnelling]

Id problems with this genus are exactly what led my father to describe and name a species Stenamma exasperatum.

[VoidElecent]

Wow! I’ve always wanted a Stenamma colony.

[rbarreto]

She is so hard to take pictures of, I had to take her out of the test tube. These are the best I could do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Acutus]

I can't help but, dude that 4th pic is Awesome!!

[AntsBC]

Yep, as I presumed earlier, Stenamma brevicorne.

[rbarreto]

Yep, as I presumed earlier, Stenamma brevicorne.

 

What led you to that conclusion?

Edited by rbarreto, June 8 2019 - 9:46 PM.

[gcsnelling]

 

Yep, as I presumed earlier, Stenamma brevicorne.

 

What led you to that conclusion?

 

 

I to would like to know how you came to this conclusion, Stenamma is one of those genera that I would never proclaim a final firm Id without scoping them and comparing them against other, accurately  identified material.

[AntsBC]

 

 

Yep, as I presumed earlier, Stenamma brevicorne.

 

What led you to that conclusion?

 

 

I to would like to know how you came to this conclusion, Stenamma is one of those genera that I would never proclaim a final firm Id without scoping them and comparing them against other, accurately  identified material.

 

 

 

 

Yep, as I presumed earlier, Stenamma brevicorne.

 

What led you to that conclusion?

 

 

Well, for starters, there are three Stenamma species present in Ontairo: Stenamma brevicorne, Stenamma diecki, and Stenamma schmittii.

 

- I ruled out Stenamma schmittii instantly, due to their coloration. I know it's never a good idea to rule out a species on coloration alone, but they look nothing like this queen.

 

- I then compared Stenamma brevicorne and Stenamma diecki. According to AntWiki, Stenamma diecki have a few, distinct features; "such as the size of the eye and the number of ommatidia therein, the nature of the sculpturing of the mesonotum and mesopleuron, and the rather smooth and shining dorsal surface of the postpetiolar node." Also, "Pilosity on dorsal surface of body rather abundant, grayish, composed of erect and also reclinate hairs of variable length, but largely reclinate."

 

Without a microscope, I can look at two of these features: amount of pilosity on dorsal surface of body, and the smoothness and shinyness of the postpetiolar node. This queen lacks both features, ruling out S. diecki. 

 

I then went to AntWiki and made sure some of the features of their queens matched with this queen, and they did. "Ocelli small, yellowish, not noticeably protruding above the general surface of the head", yep, that matches. "Scutellum and much of the mesonotum largely longitudinally rugulose-punctate. Pronotum, exclusive of the collar, largely transversely rugulose-punctulate. Area above the epinotal spines transversely rugulose with punctulate interspaces, the sculpturing often extending well down below the spines", yep, that matches too.

 

Stenamma brevicorne is also recorded to be more widespread and willing to nest in more than forests alone, and considering this queen was caught "on the pavement in the middle of the city, some small areas of trees and grass around.", that also pointed me towards Stenamma brevicorne.

 

Gordon, you're right, you can never know for sure without a microscope, but I would definitely say the evidence does point towards Stenamma brevicorne in this case.

[gcsnelling]

Thank you, that is a very nice break down of your process. With these difficult to distinguish genera I wish more folks would do this.

Edited by gcsnelling, June 10 2019 - 2:22 AM.