5 replies to this topic

[CatsnAnts]

Hello!

 

Since i have moved my all of my Strumigenys spp. colonies into petri dishes, I am now able to remove the top to get clear photos. As such, I would like to now get an ID on the unknown red species that I have in my possession. I don't really have much else to say except I found them in a walnut, so here's a lot of photos and a link to a possible list of species in Indiana https://www.formicul...indiana-antweb/ :

 

[Aaron567]

I think we can at least narrow it down to these, base on general head and mandible shape and location:

S. brevisetosa
S. clypeata
S. laevinasis

S. pilinasis
 

[CatsnAnts]

I think we can at least narrow it down to these, base on general head and mandible shape and location:

S. brevisetosa
S. clypeata
S. laevinasis

S. pilinasis
 

Thank you for taking the time to do that! Although S. pilinasis does have a similar head shape, I took photos of my other S. pilinasis colony in comparison to this colony (even single workers side by side), and these do not appear to match, so I would say we can narrow it down to the first three.

[CatsnAnts]

I don't know if its possible to identify the species without better pictures, but here's some slightly better quality one's that capture more detail of the face. I also noticed that these have a sort of protruding "ridge" going above their eye. I think I've narrowed it down to S. clypeata and S. brevisetosa due to the hairs on the clypeus, but I'm still not quite sure:

 

 

Edit: I'll call them S. clypeata for now since all three of the possible species are in the clypeata group.

Edited by CatsnAnts, July 28 2020 - 8:04 AM.

[Ferox_Formicae]

Not anything in the S. clypeata-group, as a prominent diastema is present the the individuals seen here, which is absent or reduced in clypeata-group species. I could be wrong here, but these appear to be Strumigenys creightoni, which is a new state record! I'm not 100% certain, but that's what I was able to key these too with what I could see.

[Kaelwizard]

Not anything in the S. clypeata-group, as a prominent diastema is present the the individuals seen here, which is absent or reduced in clypeata-group species. I could be wrong here, but these appear to be Strumigenys creightoni, which is a new state record! I'm not 100% certain, but that's what I was able to key these too with what I could see.

They don't use the forum during the school year, unfortunately.