19 replies to this topic

[CatsnAnts]

I've had this colony for quite some time now, and in the spirit of questioning my ability to ID ants, I have had some doubts on if this is Temnothorax curvispinosus or Temnothorax ambiguus. I have queens of both of the previous species mentioned, and this species seems to be a mixture of T. curvispinosus and T. ambiguus? The queen is 3.5 mm (edit: actually, maybe slightly less than 3.5 mm) and the coloration matches almost perfectly to Temnothorax minutissimus, but that's a workerless species. Here's some photos (and although it doesn't seem like it in the photos, the heads and abdomens of the queens and workers are noticeably darker than the thoraxes):











And here’s some photos with my phone that capture the queen:

Edited by CatsnAnts, August 21 2020 - 6:46 PM.

[CatsnAnts]

Bump

[Manitobant]

There is a very small chance it could be a dulotic species if the workers look different, though my temnothorax ambiguus have some slight color variation.

[CatsnAnts]

There is a very small chance it could be a dulotic species if the workers look different, though my temnothorax ambiguus have some slight color variation.

I would think the same thing, except T. ambiguus lack the black spots on the sides of their abdomen, these resemble T. curvispinosus workers more than T. ambiguus.

If this is of any interest, I noticed that this colony had two distinct color patterns within the worker population: some had dark heads and some had light heads. The workers with light heads were often getting into fights and tugging matches with the workers with dark heads, might this actually be a dulotic species?

[Manitobant]

There is a very small chance it could be a dulotic species if the workers look different, though my temnothorax ambiguus have some slight color variation.

I would think the same thing, except T. ambiguus lack the black spots on the sides of their abdomen, these resemble T. curvispinosus workers more than T. ambiguus.
If this is of any interest, I noticed that this colony had two distinct color patterns within the worker population: some had dark heads and some had light heads. The workers with light heads were often getting into fights and tugging matches with the workers with dark heads, might this actually be a dulotic species?

could possibly be. Slave making temnothorax are very poorly studied in north america.

[CatsnAnts]

If this is a dulotic species, how would I go about raising it? I have easy access to T. ambiguus and curvispinosus brood.

Edit: this would also explain why this colony has never had very much brood present at any given time.

Edited by CatsnAnts, August 21 2020 - 5:39 PM.

[Manitobant]

If this is a dulotic species, how would I go about raising it? I have easy access to T. ambiguus and curvispinosus brood.
Edit: this would also explain why this colony has never had very much brood present at any given time.

just dump brood into their outworld or try attaching a setup with another colony to your dulotic species. If you witness the dark headed workers actually steal the pupae you can be confident that its a slave maker.

[CatsnAnts]

WAIT! Go to the fifth picture, and look at the abdomen of the worker with a dark head compared to a worker with a light head, the pattern is different! The dark headed workers match the pattern of the queen exactly!

Edit: or maybe I’m just seeing things

Double edit: also notice how the queens have a darker head as well with a sort of gray matching the worker in the fifth picture.

Edited by CatsnAnts, August 21 2020 - 6:37 PM.

[CatsnAnts]

After doing some close examination of the colony in person, there is definitely two species of workers present. The dark headed ones are very few, but have distinct gasters, heads, size, and even had tensions with a few of the regular workers while I was watching.

Edited by CatsnAnts, August 21 2020 - 6:49 PM.

[CatsnAnts]

Just noting more of my observations:

There have been three new workers that eclosed recently, and all of them were the dark headed workers with an abdomen like the one in the fifth picture. I caught this colony at the end of May, so there shouldn’t be any raided brood left over meaning that all workers should be biological, like these ones.

[CheetoLord02]

Consider Temnothorax pilagens or Temnothorax duloticus. User AnthonyP163 will know more about them, as he has kept them

[CatsnAnts]

Temnothorax pilagens seems to possess a much darker coloration/pattern which this queen does not possess. Temnothorax duloticus, on the other hand, has a description that matches pretty well with this queen/workers, such as having a darker band across the entire abdomen as shown in the pictures.

[CatsnAnts]

Also, the darker workers/queens have a very bulky, truncate petiole node while the regular workers lack this trait, pointing more towards the idea that they are T. duloticus.

[AnthonyP163]

Yes, some of the workers appear to match with T. duloticus. 

 

How long have you had this colony? Is it possible that the alates could have been from eggs laid by a previous queen? The alates/queen look very bright compared to the duloticus queen I had.

[CatsnAnts]

I actually just figured out that the alates seem to be T. minutissimus! When looking at the alates in person, they are clearly smaller than the T. duloticus queen by a fair margin, some workers are even bigger than the alates, and the description and size matches T. minuissimus, which would be extremely cool to have a parasite and slave-raider in one nest!

Wait, so is the queen not T. duloticus?

Edit: I’ve had this colony since the end of May this year. But that wouldn’t make since for T. minutissimus then because at that time there were no alates, only the queen (I think? Maybe there was an alate?). Now I’m confused haha.

Edited by CatsnAnts, August 22 2020 - 10:07 AM.

[CatsnAnts]

Here’s some photos, the first one just strikes me as T. minutissimus, although maybe it still is T. duloticus or another species:






And maybe the queens are the same size? These alates eclosed about a little more than a month ago.

Edited by CatsnAnts, August 22 2020 - 10:23 AM.

[CatsnAnts]

I guess that either way, the alates are probably T. duloticus since the pattern on them is the same as the queen, and the gaster size may be the reason why they “appear” smaller. Can T. duloticus have this color variation?

Sorry for the spammy posts, it’s probably quite annoying.

Edit: and also to reiterate, all of the pupae that has recently eclosed has been solely T. cf duloticus workers.

Edited by CatsnAnts, August 22 2020 - 10:44 AM.

[Manitobant]

The alates definitely look like my duloticus queens, and parasite queens get more bulky once they have established a colony.

[CatsnAnts]

The alates definitely look like my duloticus queens, and parasite queens get more bulky once they have established a colony.

I think that clears it all up then! The species is T. duloticus, as well as the other alates. Good to know, and thank you! I’ll be starting a journal on them soon.

Edited by CatsnAnts, August 22 2020 - 1:40 PM.

[Manitobant]

To be sure ask AnthonyP163 for his photos. He sent me some but i can't post them since i don't have my computer on me atm.