15 replies to this topic

[AntsNmyPants]

I really am too inexperienced to know for sure but I have some guesses. As you can tell from the title I believe they could be forelius or Argentine or something else entirely lol. I finally figured out how to share photos with you. I'm sorry I don't have a microscope or anything other than the zoom on my camera (which is pretty darn good considering it's on my phone)
My son found them on the side of a dirt road here in whetstone Arizona on Saturday afternoon, around 3 pm. The area is urban but not very developed yet so it is more of an open desert type landscape. He described 3 small volcano shaped mounds in the dirt on the side of the road with the ants just hanging out near the entrances. There were workers and elates, both male and female. He grabbed at least 30 ants in total, more workers than anything but still a good amount of elates. The temperatures were in the mid to low 90s that day and there had been a good rain storm the day before. I'm now realizing I probably should have looked a little closer on what information needs to be included, but I didn't so I apologize in advance if this is incomplete information on my end. Please help me identify these ants so we can give them the best care possible, thank you
Oh boy I thought I had the pictures figured out but apparently I don't lol. I managed to make an album so hopefully you can find it through my profile until I figure out how to share it here. For some reason I'm not allowed to upload the photo directly here but I could in the gallery.

[ponerinecat]

copy and paste the photos directly.

Pheidole sp., also known as big headed ants for their major caste.

[AntsNmyPants]

copy and paste the photos directly.
Pheidole sp., also known as big headed ants for their major caste.

They are small enough. I didn't see any worker with a large enough head for me to consider that. I also just added 4 more clearer pictures to the album. I'll try copy and paste right now, thank you

[AntsNmyPants]

copy and paste the photos directly.

Hummm that option doesn't seem to be available to me or I'm going about it wrong. I have the photo saved in my clipboard and that didn't seem to work and I have yet to come across a link in the gallery. I'll keep looking, even though I still haven't gotten it this information still helps thanks again lol

[AntsNmyPants]

<a href='http://www.formicult...f-elates/'><imgsrc='http://images.formiculture.com/uploads/gallery/album_1642/gallery_4520_1642_826866.jpg' alt='Better view of elates' /></a>

Okay I figured it out, woohoo lol

[ForestDragon]

Looks to be a solenopsis species

[ponerinecat]

Yeah, solenopsis sp.

[AntsNmyPants]

They do look a lot like the red imported fire ant, solenopsis invicta. I actually hadn't considered this species either. I have a huge colony that has lived at the end of the driveway for years longer than I have (I even tried to eradicate them when we first moved in. They trumped every attempt lol) They are much larger in size so when looking at solenopsis I guess I didn't consider it's a genius not a species. You Google it and always shows fire ants, the most common kind, the huge red ones or the smaller but still huge red and black ones lol

[ponerinecat]

invicta have black abdomens, usually

[Manitobant]

That's solenopsis xyloni, also known as the southern fire ant. They are a very easy species to keep but their insane growth speed means they can get out of hand quite quickly, not to mention their burning stings!

Edited by Manitobant, August 26 2019 - 7:21 PM.

[AntsNmyPants]

They just don't seem aggressive enough to be fire ants. Granted they haven't had a chance to bite or sting us. They also don't seem to be moving as erratically as I've seen fire ants do, they are typically very fast moving and these guys (unless freaked out) meander around at a nice slow moving easy pace. Even when they were working constructing a tunnel they weren't moving as fast as I would expect a fire ant to move. I'm definitely no expert, just throwing my observations out there. I appreciate all the input, thank you everyone.

[AntsNmyPants]

Unfortunately I don't have an accurate way to measure them or see distinguishing features. I know these bits of information would be most helpful in identifying lol.

[TennesseeAnts]

Solenopsis invicta.

[Manitobant]

They just don't seem aggressive enough to be fire ants. Granted they haven't had a chance to bite or sting us. They also don't seem to be moving as erratically as I've seen fire ants do, they are typically very fast moving and these guys (unless freaked out) meander around at a nice slow moving easy pace. Even when they were working constructing a tunnel they weren't moving as fast as I would expect a fire ant to move. I'm definitely no expert, just throwing my observations out there. I appreciate all the input, thank you everyone.

well solenopsis xyloni isn't as aggressive nor the exact same behavior wise as the invasive red imported fire ant (solenopsis invicta) and the latter isn't found in arizona so there isn't really anything else it could be. Also, the speed an ant is moving isn't a good way to ID it.

Edited by Manitobant, August 27 2019 - 11:12 AM.

[AntsNmyPants]

[quote name="Manitobant" post="124790" timestamp="1566933044"]

[quote name="AntsNmyPants" post="124735" timestamp="1566880966"]
well solenopsis xyloni isn't as aggressive nor the exact same behavior wise as the invasive red imported fire ant (solenopsis invicta) and the latter isn't found in arizona so there isn't really anything else it could be. Also, the speed an ant is moving isn't a good way to ID it.[/quote]

This is the problem with researching, you find lots of contradicting information lol. According to Google, solenopsis invicta is here in Arizona and apparently very prominent. I wouldn't know for sure tho, I can't even figure out what these little buggers are. They look like every dang ant I research lol.
Without tools like a microscope and being able to measure them properly I unfortunately don't have much else to go off of other than behavior.
Also, the point may be moot now. Our little terrarium has been invaded by the local ants that frequent our porch. They trumped right through the barrier lol. The ants we originally collected are still there and don't seem to care. In fact it looks like they may be joining forces and not neccessary moving out lol. Not sure what I'm gonna do about that yet...I just got home from work and found a nice trail of ants leading right into it. I'm finding it rather comical right now lol

[AntsNmyPants]

So just to update, the invaders had a look around, ate some peanutbutter and then left lol. Our ants are still there, they can't cross the barrier but apparently these tiny little guys that reside in my yard can. They haven't been back since that night so that's good. I still don't know what our ants are, I have a feeling that we won't get a queen out of them anyways so they probably won't last long