1666 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

Amazing how these Southwestern Camponotus always start their mating flights at precisely one hour after dark. Do you have a city where this happened? and what was the weather like?

[Gregory2455]

Just one of each?!

[cpman]

Austin, TX. It was about 70-75 ish degrees and about 60-70% humidity.

The unknown one looks like a giant C. texanus. The queens are 16-18 mm instead of 12-ish mm.

Edited by cpman, April 4 2015 - 7:20 AM.

[dspdrew]

Solenopsis molesta flew last night in Trabuco Canyon, CA just after the sun went down. It was warm and calm, with low humidity, and without any recent rain.

[dspdrew]

I finally finished going through every site reporting mating flights and the database is now up to 1254 reports. Now I have to start going through Youtube videos and journals.

[Foogoo]

I finally finished going through every site reporting mating flights and the database is now up to 1254 reports. Now I have to start going through Youtube videos and journals.

You deserve a medal. I'm writing a letter to your local representative.

 

EDIT: Seriously though, I can see this being useful for any future SW USA ant research. If anyone here uses it for their paper, be sure to use cite it! And include me as co-author.

Edited by Foogoo, April 13 2015 - 3:03 PM.

[dspdrew]

Well this whole thing is made up of almost all amateur sightings so there is definitely accuracy issues.

[kellakk]

I found a whole bunch of Pogonomyrmex sp. flying at dusk last night in the North Algodones Dunes area last night.  I also found a lone Pogonomyrmex queen with no gaster wandering around near Yuma, AZ.

[Crystals]

In Vancouver (BC) some sort of black Formica was flying yesterday. 

[dspdrew]

I found a whole bunch of Pogonomyrmex sp. flying at dusk last night in the North Algodones Dunes area last night.  I also found a lone pogo queen with no gaster wandering around near Yuma, AZ.

 

I would assume this is P. californicus. Why on Earth are they flying in the desert when it's cold and there hasn't been a drop of rain?

[kellakk]

The alates were smaller than the P. californicus workers I saw there, and really light red to almost yellow.  It was pretty warm there too, it must have been 85 degrees Fahrenheit when they started flying.  I'm thinking this might be P. magnacantha, which is small and doesn't use rain as a flight indicator.  We'll see when I get around to posting an ID thread.

[dspdrew]

Hmm, interesting. Can't wait to see it.

[AntTeen804]

Hey on 4-18-15 Camponotus Nearcticus flew in Virginia.

[Chromerust]

Solenopsis Invicta flew yesterday around riverside/Norco, CA and probably anywhere ithat got rain over the weekend. This time I found them between 4:30-6 pm. The last two times I collected these was between 1 and 3 in the afternoon. It was windy all day and it seems they waited until the winds stopped. I'm not sure about this, it's just a hunch. I believe some more will fly today also because it's even warmer but no guarantees guys.

[AntsTexas]

i noticed the same here in texas, if it's windy no-go for flying, no wind it's a green light to fly

[cpman]

They also flew here yesterday. Around 83° and sunny. The night before we had 2" of rain.

[kellakk]

I went blacklighting in Chino Hills State Park tonight instead of going out to Mt. Baldy. There were multiple species flying tonight including Solenopsis molesta, Solenopsis xyloni, what I think is Liometopum occidentale, a possible Pheidole sp., and a formicine that I can't ID.  I'll be posting some ID threads soon.

Edited by kellakk, April 28 2015 - 11:45 PM.

[Crystals]

Last night in Athabasca, Alberta there was a very small flight of Camponotus herculeanus.  I saw 8-10 queens flying around 8pm (unusualy late in the day for them).

Temp was 21C, no rain for last week, but it was overcast and very muggy.  Expecting rain today.

 

Normally they do not fly until May, and they wait for a warm day and fly late afternoon.  I expect the main flight is coming up in the next few weeks with our early spring.

[dermy]

I hope that means we get some soon here in Sask. All we've been lucky to get is a small snow fall of 1' of snow that lasted 1 day.

[dspdrew]

I went blacklighting in Chino Hills State Park tonight instead of going out to Mt. Baldy. There were multiple species flying tonight including Solenopsis molesta, Solenopsis xyloni, what I think is Liometopum occidentale, a possible Pheidole sp., and a formicine that I can't ID.  I'll be posting some ID threads soon.

 

Good choice. Baldy sucked. I did get lucky however, and found another Liometopum occidentale queen wandering around by the creek just before it got dark. I found a couple queens on my black light in Trabuco Canyon the night before I left, and I figured there would be even more as it got hotter. Tonight it should be 75F there at dark, so I will be going there again tonight.