10 replies to this topic

[FinWins]

I caught 8 Pogonomyrmex queens on June 25th at my local park from 7:00 to 7:30 pm. Once I got home however I quickly realized that I had two different species on my hands. The larger ones were P. californicus and the smaller ones I believe are P. magnacanthus. I put all four of my P. cf magnacanthus together in one test tube and my four P. californicus in two test tubes of two queens each.

Edited by FinWins, June 16 2023 - 5:24 PM.

[ZTYguy]

Can you post some photos?

[FinWins]

Here are some photos from today
This is a pic of the smaller species EDIT: (P. magnacanthus)

This is a pic of P. californicus

Edited by FinWins, July 26 2022 - 12:33 PM.

[FinWins]

So I’ve decided to open up a different thread for P. magnacanthus and to make this one only on the P. californicus

[FinWins]

One pair of queens now has lots of eggs and a small larvae.

[ZTYguy]

Those are subniditus

[FinWins]

Those are subniditus

Which one the californicus or the magnacanthus?

[ZTYguy]

The “californicus” are likely subnitidus and the “magnacanthus” are probably in the californicus group (but that is just speculation). What I 100 percent know is that you don’t have any magnacanthus

[FinWins]

The “californicus” are likely subnitidus and the “magnacanthus” are probably in the californicus group (but that is just speculation). What I 100 percent know is that you don’t have any magnacanthus

No they are definitely californicus because they are slightly bicolored it’s hard to see in the picture but in real life it’s obvious I’ll try to get better pics. As for the matter of magnacanthus, I know that they are magnacanthus because they are only five millimeters long and they don’t have a spike on their back they are also MUCH thinner then the P. californicus. I don’t know of any other Pogonomyrmex that is that small.

[ReignofRage]

If your P. californicus have spines then they quite simply are P. subnitidus. A species that is five millimeters is the "costal" P. californicus. The people who have commented on your posts about these are all experienced with these mentioned species.

[FinWins]

So are the costal all red P. californicus way smaller then the dessert variant because I caught the bi color variety at the same place and it is much bigger. Also the place I caught them at has all red Pogonomyrmex workers running around however they are larger then the queens of the mystery species I caught.