3 replies to this topic

[antsantYT]

been looking for formica ulkei for the passed 2 years and only found one queen. does anyone know when they have there flights? there is no info on when they have flights.

[AntsBC]

Formica ulkei flies later in the anting season, from July to August. 

[antsantYT]

Formica ulkei flies later in the anting season, from July to August

what time do they have there flights?

[Nare]

Bringing this thing back to life in order to see if I can generate any discussion.

 

Was reading through this paper about the life history of Formica ulkei in Illinois, and though the author didn't actually witness any flights, they suspected flights occurred around July 20th, though alates were found in the nest as late as August 10th (iirc). This lines up well with sightings on July 14th from members of this forum. So I'm assuming F. ulkei fly from mid-July to mid-August. Still not clear to me as to what time of day they fly or which conditions trigger a flight. I remember hearing somewhere that it's heat rather than rainfall that triggers flights of this species, but I don't have a source for that.

 

Queens are notoriously difficult to find it seems. However, it is known that colonies will accept back mated queens, and queens have been found trying to infiltrate host nests. With this in mind, I'd suggest the following for trying to find F. ulkei queens:

 

1. Find an area with a large F. ulkei population, or perhaps many mounds. My area of choice has maybe a dozen decently sized mounds (~1 meter diameter), in an open field of perhaps 2500 square meters. There is forest on three sides and road along the fourth.

 

2. Visit often in the days and weeks leading up to mid-July. Inspection of mound and limited digging should reveal how the brood is progressing (since brood is often kept near the surface where it is warmest).

 

3. When alates are found in the nest, check the weather for any day in the near future with abnormal conditions (say in a week where every day is a high of 24C, look for a day of 30C, or perhaps the day after it rains). I'm still not clear on which conditions cause these ants to fly, so I would check every day if possible.

 

4. Wait around all day. If alates are observed flying and mating, catch them. Observe foraging trails around colonies. Since colonies accept queens, observation of trails around mounds may reveal queens heading into the nest.

 

Another option is potentially setting up containers with host brood / miniature host colonies in the field to try and see if queens will invade those. Not sure how that would work, still a lot that needs to be figured out.

 

At this point, what I really need to know is which conditions cause F. ulkei to fly. I know the general time period as to when flights occur, and I know where I might possibly find them. I'll be heading out to the site often this summer, and will record what I find. If anyone knows anything about Formica ulkei and their flights, their feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

EDIT: I've done some more reading. I found a paper that stated that flights were observed from early- to mid-July, from 6:30 to 8:30 AM, and that alates were seen crawling over the mound in the days proceeding the flights. Fortunately, the paper documented a couple days in succession of flights, so for anyone visiting a congregation of mounds regularly, it shouldn't be difficult to find a flight. The paper also suggested that most queens simply fly, mate, and then return to a nest where they are accepted back into the nest, as opposed to invading a host colony as a normal parasite would. This suggests that perhaps a F. ulkei queen could be accepted by a collected group of workers and brood, which would drastically simplify the founding process and perhaps greatly increase success in raising the ant.

Edited by Nare, May 31 2020 - 5:44 PM.