2 replies to this topic

[Antennal_Scrobe]

While I could probably find most ants native to my area within a day or two (Even the more uncommon ones, like Polyergus mexicanus or Temnothorax longispinosus), one genus eludes me completely: Aphaenogaster. No matter where I look, I cannot find even a single worker, despite searching multiple parks, nature centers (Though I could not collect from there anyway), and friend's backyards, just to find my favorite genus. I do not know if I am looking in the wrong places, or if I am just very unlucky, though I suspect the former, as another southeast Wisconsin antkeeper on this forum mentioned in his Aphaenogaster journal that he found so many colonies he had to limit himself to just two. Does anyone know which habitats/specific locations might be home to a similar winnow ant bonanza?

Edited by Antennal_Scrobe, June 23 2019 - 1:09 PM.

[AnthonyP163]

I'm in Waukesha and I've found them under rocks a lot. I notice that they're particularly uncommon in pine forests (at least A. rudis is). If you find a forest with small shrubs/trees, and look under/in logs, you could definitely find some. They do well in undisturbed forests, but I've found them in rural areas. If you've found P. mexicanus, this is interesting because antmaps.org doesn't have any documentation of them here. I do understand, though, because of the confusion with them and P. breviceps. I've had P. breviceps raid Formica montana here, and I am considering that they may be P. mexicanus.

 

Anyway, good luck with finding Aphaenogaster. 

[Antennal_Scrobe]

Thanks for the advice on finding Aphaenogaster, I will go to Waukesha within the next few days and have a look. Concerning Polyergus, I am pretty sure the ones I saw are mexicanus, since their host workers were black, like F. subsericea, and not brown as F. montana (the preferred "slave" of P. breviceps) is.