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Queen Ant ID (Camponotus sp.) (Ice House Canyon, Mt. Baldy, CA) (4-24-2014)

queen ant id camponotus ice house canyon mt. baldy california

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6 replies to this topic

#1 Offline dspdrew - Posted April 24 2014 - 1:58 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

1. Location of collection:  Ice House Canyon, Mt. Baldy, California.
2. Date of collection:  4-8-2014.
3. Habitat of collection:  Pine/Oak Forest.
4. Length (from head to gaster):  16mm
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture:  Black head, black thorax, gaster anterior yellowish orange and posterior black, yellowish orange legs.
6. Distinguishing characteristics:  
7. Anything else distinctive: 
8. Nest description: 

 

Queen

 

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Major 1

 

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Major 2

 

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Male

 

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Nest

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Habitat

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#2 Offline dspdrew - Posted April 24 2014 - 1:59 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

This keyed out to C. vicinus, but the colors sure are different than any I have seen online.



#3 Offline Crystals - Posted April 24 2014 - 6:00 AM

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Wow.  Vicinus? 

I never saw one with that coloration before, but maybe there are different color morphs down south?


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#4 Offline dspdrew - Posted April 24 2014 - 9:06 AM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

They definitely do have a large variation of colors, but yeah, orange seems strange.



#5 Offline dspdrew - Posted April 6 2015 - 6:16 PM

dspdrew
  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

James C. Trager thought C. sansabeanus was the most likely ID for these as you can see in the original ID thread over on Antfarm.yuku.com (http://antfarm.yuku....Canyon-Mt-Baldy).

 

I think I now agree. The scapes sure are long for C. sansabeanus, but whatever... Camponotus keys don't seem to be very reliable.

 

I just sent a specimen to gcsnelling too, so maybe he might have an opinion on it.



#6 Offline Chromerust - Posted April 6 2015 - 6:53 PM

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That sounds good to me Drew, I'm kind of tired of not having a ID for them. Sansabeanus it is. It's most likely correct anyway, and if anyone has the best guess it would be Dr.T.

#7 Offline Miles - Posted April 6 2015 - 7:30 PM

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I sure doubt that this is Camponotus vicinus - C. sansabeanus seems like a much better fit.


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Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: queen, ant id, camponotus, ice house canyon, mt. baldy, california

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