86 replies to this topic

[Vendayn]

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Edited by Vendayn, January 1 2021 - 10:48 PM.

[NickAnter]

Very interesting. I find that the Argentines here don't commonly attack P. navigans here, but when they do, it is almost always indecisive. The most I see is one or two dead Pheidole majors.

[Vendayn]

Very interesting. I find that the Argentines here don't commonly attack P. navigans here, but when they do, it is almost always indecisive. The most I see is one or two dead Pheidole majors.

That is interesting. I think here in my local area we got Pheidole flavens, but not 100% sure. LC3 a while back thought it was likely to be them, and they seem pretty timid. Their colonies have a lot of queens though, and I've never really seen them attack or be attacked by Argentine ants. However, Pheidole megacephala do enter Pheidole flavens colonies, bypass ALL the soldiers and workers and literally assassinate their queens. I've seen workers carrying Pheidole flavens queens and completely ignoring their workers and soldiers.

 

On the other hand, we got Brachymyrmex patagonicus which completely ignore Argentine ants (mostly, outside my unit at peak of summer there are fights between them and Argentine ants. The Argentine ants win with numbers but take heavy losses). But the Brachymyrmex specifically target Pheidole megacephala workers and soldiers and injure/kill them. The Brachymyrmex patagonicus colonies here get really huge, as far as Brachymyrmex colonies go.

Edited by Vendayn, April 19 2020 - 12:24 PM.

[NickAnter]

Here the Brachymyrmex are insignificant specks. The Monomorium here are pretty dominant in some areas. A couple years ago, Pheidole navigans used to be very common, however, they have declined a bit. However, there are a few large colonies that I see in my yard, that have tons of majors right at the surface. Like 50. My guess is that as there are many argentines near those colonies, they have upped major production.

 

Relating to the Monomorium, I noticed in an area near Brackish water they are totally the most common ant, and coexist well with S. xyloni, and even make nests just like them. It is in that area where I would expect large numbers of argentines, where they are most prevalent. This makes me think that they are totally resistant to them, as in my heighborhood I never see argentines make any offensive moves against them. They are strictly avoided actually.

 

This is strange, because in the Santa Barbara area, Monomorium are common, but are dominated by argentines. Yet, the habitat is pretty similar, except a bit colder there, which is interesting.

 

Nylanderia, in my neighborhood also have a pretty sturdy foothold, however, some colonies I have seen wiped out completely by argentines. I think this is due to their insanely fast recruitment, which allows them to flee, and find food quickly.

[gcsnelling]

"tens of thousands or more of queens"? really?

[Vendayn]

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Edited by Vendayn, January 1 2021 - 10:48 PM.

[Vendayn]

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Edited by Vendayn, January 1 2021 - 10:48 PM.

[FSTP]

you should have picture 

[RushmoreAnts]

"tens of thousands or more of queens"? really?

 

 

I agree. A few queens and tens of thousands of workers sounds more reasonable to me. You'd be surprised how large of a colony just one queen can sustain.

Edited by AntsDakota, April 20 2020 - 12:29 PM.

[Vendayn]

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Edited by Vendayn, January 1 2021 - 10:48 PM.

[RushmoreAnts]

I still don't think it would be over a hundred or so. Could the mounds with dozens of queens have been important and dominant mounds?

[Vendayn]

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Edited by Vendayn, January 1 2021 - 10:48 PM.

[Vendayn]

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Edited by Vendayn, January 1 2021 - 10:48 PM.

[NickAnter]

If the colony had 3 million ants, and that website is accurate, there would be about 171 queens if the colony was 5 years old, if they had the same number of queens from the beginning, which they obviously didn't. Therefore, they probably have more queens than that, if they live more than a few years.

Edited by NickAnter, April 20 2020 - 1:32 PM.

[Vendayn]

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Edited by Vendayn, January 1 2021 - 10:48 PM.

[Vendayn]

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Edited by Vendayn, January 1 2021 - 10:49 PM.

[gcsnelling]

I am familiar with the web site you link and know the people who set it up. However I suspect the numbers being mentioned here being grossly over estimated.

[Vendayn]

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Edited by Vendayn, January 1 2021 - 10:49 PM.

[FSTP]

Quibbling over how many queens/workers there are is kind of silly. We will never really know how many there are, especially without pictures...  

[Vendayn]

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Edited by Vendayn, January 1 2021 - 10:49 PM.