17 replies to this topic

[ponerinecat]

So these males fly nonstop from late summer to late fall. I found some at the blacklight last night and thought they looked a lot like Stigmatomma! Can anyone confirm this, and do queens come to lights? really excited!

 

 

[Acutus]

Looks like a wasp to me. Especially the antennae

[ponerinecat]

Search up stigmatomma males. They look a lot alike.

[FeedTheAnts]

Those are wasps. No matter how much they look like Stigmatomma their antennae are not elbowed.

[Acutus]

Search up stigmatomma males. They look a lot alike.

 

I did. And they do! very un-Antlike antennae in the males especially!

[ponerinecat]

Those are wasps. No matter how much they look like Stigmatomma their antennae are not elbowed.

Neither are the antennae on stigmatomma males.

[Acutus]

This help at all?

 

https://journals.plo...al.pone.0033325

[TennesseeAnts]

Yea that's a Stigmatomma male. Kinda early I think? (Ablyoponiae and Ponerinae males look almost identical to wasps. Search Brachyponera chinensis male)

[ponerinecat]

Anyone know if queens fly to lights?

[NickAnter]

How warm was it when you found the males?

Edited by NickAnter, August 8 2019 - 1:30 PM.

[ponerinecat]

How warm was it when you found the males?

Actually quite cool, around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Our area is terrible for anting, as it never rains in summer and the temperature is always hot enough to evaporate a test tube of water in the day. Because of that, the ants here just kind wing it and fly spasmodically and randomly, with different colonies of the same ant flying at different times.

[VenomousBeast]

It is a Stigmatomma pallipes male and you can draw in queens with blacklights. The males typically fly to other colonies though and mate inside the nest or just outside it. But queens do fly maybe once out of all these male flights so you might get lucky!

[ponerinecat]

It is a Stigmatomma pallipes male and you can draw in queens with blacklights. The males typically fly to other colonies though and mate inside the nest or just outside it. But queens do fly maybe once out of all these male flights so you might get lucky!

Would be a first.

 

Also... could tagging males with gps tags be a viable way of finding these ants?

Edited by ponerinecat, August 8 2019 - 5:33 PM.

[NickAnter]

How would you get a GPS tracker that small?  Also, the male might not fly away to a nest, after being attracted to the black light.  If you could get a tiny one, and it would fly away, then it might work.

[ponerinecat]

I mean, they can put them on monarchs, so maybe?

[Acutus]

 

It is a Stigmatomma pallipes male and you can draw in queens with blacklights. The males typically fly to other colonies though and mate inside the nest or just outside it. But queens do fly maybe once out of all these male flights so you might get lucky!

Would be a first.

 

Also... could tagging males with gps tags be a viable way of finding these ants?

 

 

Bigger question is..."Could you afford to do it if it was?" LOL   

Seriously though, monarchs are way bigger, not saying that technology doesn't exist to do it, but it'd be real expensive for sure.

[TennesseeAnts]

It is worth it for Stigmatomma!

[ponerinecat]

It is worth it for Stigmatomma!

especially some of the hard to find ones.