25 replies to this topic

[PTAntFan]

1. Location of collection: Park trail
2. Date of collection: 4/5/2015
3. Habitat of collection: desert scrub
4. Length (from head to gaster): 6-7mm
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: Reddish orange with darker gaster. Fuzzy short hairs throughout.
6. Distinguishing characteristics: Thinly lined head. Two prominent barbs pointing anterior off Thorax.  Dual petiole, postpetiole attached to gaster. Thorax almost lightbulb shaped. Thorax slightly ruddy texture. Small-medium size round eyes. Tiniest bit hexagonal shaped head with eyes at side points but smooth shaped, not angular.  12 Antennal segments.
7. Anything else distinctive: Fairly flat masticatory margin with two prominent teeth and sharp basal angle on mandible. Orange mite discovered on mouth.
8. Nest description: Nest in earth amidst light scrub, grasses.

 

Head, Thorax, barbs:

Mandibles:

Mite:

Feet:

[Jonathan21700]

Pogonomyrmex sp.

[dspdrew]

Can we get a city and state for location? Profile views would help too.

 

Edit: Sorry. Didn't notice the location was in the title.

 

Pogonomyrmex subnitidus would be my best guess.

Edited by dspdrew, April 7 2015 - 1:27 PM.

[Alza]

apheanogastor or messor SP

[Ants4fun]

It does look a bit like Aphaenogaster...

[dspdrew]

Yeah, actually it just didn't really look much like P. subnitidus with those colors and all, but assuming it was Pogonomyrmex, I couldn't think of any others with spines at that elevation. Even still, those spines would be too long for P. subnitidus. So yeah, Aphaenogaster makes much more sense.

 

Edit: Actually, now that I think about it, I have no clue what these are haha. I have found A. occidentalis in those mountains, but at much higher elevations. These also have much longer spines than A. occidentalis too.

 

Again, a side view would help a lot.

Edited by dspdrew, April 7 2015 - 3:46 PM.

[Alza]

c:

[Foogoo]

Wow, I wonder how many of these I've come across and dismissed as another Pogonomyrmex...

[Gregory2455]

Anyone considered Veromessor andrei?

[dspdrew]

Yes, but I've never seen any that are "redish orange". They're usually dark maroon.

[kellakk]

I agree with Greg.  Color tends to be pretty subjective, the pictures look like a dark red to me.

[dspdrew]

"5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: Reddish orange with darker gaster."

 

Colors don't always come out right in pictures, which is why we need a written description.

[kellakk]

That's what I was commenting on.  Color is subjective.

 

EDIT:  Looking at the pictures again, you can see that the head is wide and squarish and that there are two spines coming from the thorax.  According to antweb, only Aphaenogaster cockerelli has spines coming from its thorax. However, no Aphaenogaster has such a wide head.

Edited by kellakk, April 7 2015 - 8:30 PM.

[PTAntFan]

I'll try to take some stacked focus profile shots. The park is in Newhall, CA. I could be talked into maroon/red. The gaster is absolutely dark, dark maroon, which lead me to describe the rest oranger.

[Miles]

Having kept (currently, even) Aphaenogaster occidentalis, I can definitively say that this specimen is not of that species. Just thought I'd add that here, although it seemed to be ruled out.

[dspdrew]

Yeah after looking at it some more, the head does seem way too square to be Aphaenogaster. Veromessor andrei really seems like the best guess to me now... if it wasn't for the color.

[gcsnelling]

Veromessor andrei

[James C. Trager]

What gcsnelling said!
Morphology says V. andrei, no matter what the color, though this somehwat unusually red coloring is within the range of variation for Veromessor.

[Gregory2455]

Yay! I was right!!!

[PTAntFan]

Here is a stacked profile shot of same ant.  Are we agreed on Veromessor?  If so, Foogoo, I'll try my best to get you one, but I've no idea when they fly.