1666 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

Perfect. Thanks. Any idea where, and what week of January it was that you saw them fly?

[Gregory2455]

The last week of January there were alates wandering and then you know what happened in the first days of February.

[Gregory2455]

Two Myrmecocystus sp, Liometopum occidentale, Dorymyrmex insanus & bicolor, and Nylanderia vividula flew in Simi Valley, CA within the last few days. I only found a dead Liometopum queen, but I did catch two of some black Myrmecocystus sp, five N.vividula, a D.insanus, and two D.bicolor.  I also caught a Myrmecocystus cf. testaceus, but she died.

[kellakk]

The Myrmecocystus sp. that lives in the foothills around here is flying today.  

[dspdrew]

Did you get any queens??

[kellakk]

They kept ducking back inside when I was watching them, and I had to leave.  It was around 10 in the morning, though, so I assume they flew later on. 

[dspdrew]

Ohh okay. A lot of ants will do this for days before they fly.

[awinner]

On bugguide.net we have two reports (http://bugguide.net/node/view/734473) (http://bugguide.net/.../851794/bgimage) out of not-very-many total reports, of Formica pacifica flying in October. I think it is enough to warrant adding October to your mating chart.

[dspdrew]

Thanks. That's amazing... almost the same exact day both years. I have seen this quite a bit while going through all of this data.

 

I've added them to the new database I'm working on. I actually have one F. pacifica report you made a few years ago in the database already. Bug Guide is one of the websites I do plan on going through also looking for data.

 

Welcome to the forum BTW.

[dspdrew]

Just for records I guess I'll report this here. Dolopomyrmex pilatus flew in Lake Los Angeles, 3-20-2015 around 9:00 pm. I could tell they obviously flew the night before also. Temps were in the high 50's and it rained two days before.

[Foogoo]

I noticed Forelius isn't on the chart. Could this thread give them a spot for around July?

[dspdrew]

Yeah. I found one the day I was there too. I can't remember why I never added them to the chart. One problem is it's very difficult to tell the two species apart, so we probably can only add them as Forelius sp..

 

Edit: Actually I already added it to the database, so it will reflect in the new charts.

Edited by dspdrew, March 24 2015 - 9:28 AM.

[cpman]

There have been some flights I've noticed here in Austin recently. A mid-sized Camponotus (probably C. texanus) flew last weekend here. I saw a Pseudomyrmex gracilis male leave the nest two days ago. And, of course, I've seen Solenopsis invicta queens sporadically since January.

[dspdrew]

Liometopum occidentale flew last night around 8:30 pm in Trabuco Canyon, CA.

[dspdrew]

There have been some flights I've noticed here in Austin recently. A mid-sized Camponotus (probably C. texanus) flew last weekend here. I saw a Pseudomyrmex gracilis male leave the nest two days ago. And, of course, I've seen Solenopsis invicta queens sporadically since January.

 

Would you be able to tell me any more specific time you saw S. invicta flying? And when exactly did you see them in January? That's very early.

[cpman]

 

There have been some flights I've noticed here in Austin recently. A mid-sized Camponotus (probably C. texanus) flew last weekend here. I saw a Pseudomyrmex gracilis male leave the nest two days ago. And, of course, I've seen Solenopsis invicta queens sporadically since January.

 

Would you be able to tell me any more specific time you saw S. invicta flying? And when exactly did you see them in January? That's very early.

 

 

I remember seeing some queens running around on the 20th of January. I also saw a few dead males. I noticed that they were the first queens of the year, then I killed them (because they were S. invicta). I've seen quite a few flights of that species in January before, typically on the few days up around 70-80 degrees F that we get.

Edited by cpman, March 28 2015 - 6:53 AM.

[dspdrew]

Database is up to 1110 nuptial flight reports now.

 

 

The Myrmecocystus sp. that lives in the foothills around here is flying today.  

 

Did you ever see these alates hanging around the nest entrance anymore after this?

[kellakk]

No, after that day the nest went dormant.  I haven't even seen workers out since then.

[dspdrew]

Make sure you're not looking after about 3:00 pm, because they usually go in for the day around that time.

[cpman]

Camponotus sansabeanus and another Camponotus (not sure on species) flew today. I saw around 100 total dealates of these two species running around starting at around 9:30 tonight. I caught one of each.