7 replies to this topic

[futurebird]

 

I got this colony from tar heel ants, and he knows his stuff, so I'm 98 percent certain they are camponotus discolor as advertised... and yet. I see photos online that confuse me all the time!

 

So, I looked up the description. 

 

 

Wow, I thought it would mention decipiens as the ant discolor is often confused with, but here is a new ant... camponotus caryae. In any case it seems that I need to look at the little face hairs of the ant. 

 

caryae has hairs all over the face except the forhead.

decipiens has hair on the mandibles and above them on the upper lip (on the 'clypeus') The descriptions says "one or two pairs of hair on the posterior margin of the clypeus"

discolor has basically a beard, hairs the same as decipiens... but more and also on the cheeks. 

 

 

 

It's really hard to see their face hairs! It's hard to get a photograph... but looking at them with my magnifying glass I just don't see the "cheek hairs" They have hairs on the top of their head, on their mandibles, on the clypeus (but IDK if it's exactly "one or two pairs") and that is all.

 

If one of them dies and I can find the body I'll update this post with some microscopy. 

 

Can someone help me?

 

 

 

Edited by futurebird, June 29 2021 - 7:22 AM.

[NickAnter]

I think this is C. discolordecipiens. The lack of hairs seems quite apparent.

 

I read the numbers wrong... I thought the species corresponded to the number to the left of it, I can't read apparently.

Edited by NickAnter, June 29 2021 - 4:55 PM.

[futurebird]

But discolor has more hair?

[Aaron567]

Yeah, this is decipiens as evidenced by the bare malar region of the head. You can bet most decipiens/discolor that are found and kept by ant hobbyists are actually C. decipiens, as that species is far more common than discolor in most places. I'm not sure why so many people insist on calling everything discolor when it's actually fairly easy to verify the identity of each species, but I've theorized it's because the name might sound cuter and more appealing than decipiens. I've seen another person's "discolor" from Tar Heel Ants and they looked like decipiens as well, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's only decipiens being sold.. especially due to the relative rarity of discolor. If THA's permit is specifically for discolor this might be technically illegal but hey, that's their problem for not verifying something that's able to be seen easily with a cheap cellphone macro lens!

[TennesseeAnts]

Yeah, one hundred percent C. decipiens.

Edited by TennesseeAnts, August 19 2021 - 10:54 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Plot twist!

[NickAnter]

Eye power low apparently.... didn't check to see which number properly corresponded to the species...

[futurebird]

I almost deleted this post but I have some happy news. I got a better camera recently and I can see the hairs... all of the hairs much more clearly. On the queen it's pretty definitive. It's DISCOLOR as advertised. 
 
Ant identification is difficult. And even if they were decepins I wouldn't have been angry I just wanted to dispel any lingering suspicions and show that, yes, I was able to verify the species myself independently. This whole nonsense started because I lacked the tools and knowledge to do that properly. 
 
So what did we learn? Ant face hairs are hard to see!
 
Also... no one really knows if some of these species might not interbreed. So the rather sparse hairs on young majors isn't that big of a deal. Here is my lovely bearded lady.



Thank you all for being patient with my amature etymology efforts.
 

 

All of the queens I've gotten from Tar Heel (I've bought 4) have absolutely thrived.  No one is as careful in their packing and shipping, and I've never felt like I was sent something less than what was expected. Definity one of our better vendors for all us folks out east. Worth what some perceive as a (modest) price premium. And now I can add: even difficult to identify species with many similar cousins are correctly identified.