5 replies to this topic

[Flu1d]

1. Location (on a map) of collection: Pensacola, Florida, USA
2. Date of collection: 11/06/2022
3. Habitat of collection: Back yard, covered with leaves. No mound, seems to be a sunken underground hill
4. Length (from head to gaster): Major is about half a CM, give or take a slight amount. Minors are closer to about 3ish to 4ish mm
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: I'm thinking like a brownish/tannish head with a darker brown or black body. Its hard to tell from a distance and my camera seems to blur it up when I zoom but this seems accurate.
6. Distinguishing characteristics:
7. Distinguishing behavior: They were active on the crushed cricket at first (locally caught myself in the same yard they live in) but noe they are kinda grooming ajd moving a little but mostly chillin. They arent nearly as explorative or aggressive as the fire ants were.I assume because there's no queen, maybe?
8. Nest description: Pictures

9. Nuptial flight time and date: Not a queen, grabbed from hill in yard to get I.d.

[Flu1d]

Minors measurement is probably close to 2-3 MM, not 3-4. My bad on that

[Mettcollsuss]

Pheidole obscurithorax

[Flu1d]

Ok cool, I just noticed the forum has a care guide for these guys! So far I have found 1 Pheidole nest in the front yard and one in the back. They look to be the same type of Pheidole so I will not request an i.d. of the ones in the front unless I notice any key differences after taking a look at them.

The thing that makes sense is they have both seemed to set their nests up not too far from the invicta ants nests that I discovered.. However the onlything that makes me wonder is, I don't know how to gauge size that well but obscurithorax majors are supposed to be like 6 mm+, I'm not 100% sure by myguess was closer to 5 MM.. But prolly closer to 6 than 4.. Iunno.

I was hoping it would be a species also found in NM, sadly the obscurithorax is not

Is it frowned upon to have a colony for a year or two and then release it? I don't wanna start a colony I can't keep and I'm not taking something somewhere it doesnt belong

[TennesseeAnts]

Ok cool, I just noticed the forum has a care guide for these guys! So far I have found 1 Pheidole nest in the front yard and one in the back. They look to be the same type of Pheidole so I will not request an i.d. of the ones in the front unless I notice any key differences after taking a look at them.

The thing that makes sense is they have both seemed to set their nests up not too far from the invicta ants nests that I discovered.. However the onlything that makes me wonder is, I don't know how to gauge size that well but obscurithorax majors are supposed to be like 6 mm+, I'm not 100% sure by myguess was closer to 5 MM.. But prolly closer to 6 than 4.. Iunno.

I was hoping it would be a species also found in NM, sadly the obscurithorax is not

Is it frowned upon to have a colony for a year or two and then release it? I don't wanna start a colony I can't keep and I'm not taking something somewhere it doesnt belong

Yes. It's also illegal. You should never move ants around, especially invasive species such as Pheidole obscurithorax.

[Flu1d]

Ok cool, I just noticed the forum has a care guide for these guys! So far I have found 1 Pheidole nest in the front yard and one in the back. They look to be the same type of Pheidole so I will not request an i.d. of the ones in the front unless I notice any key differences after taking a look at them.

The thing that makes sense is they have both seemed to set their nests up not too far from the invicta ants nests that I discovered.. However the onlything that makes me wonder is, I don't know how to gauge size that well but obscurithorax majors are supposed to be like 6 mm+, I'm not 100% sure by myguess was closer to 5 MM.. But prolly closer to 6 than 4.. Iunno.

I was hoping it would be a species also found in NM, sadly the obscurithorax is not

Is it frowned upon to have a colony for a year or two and then release it? I don't wanna start a colony I can't keep and I'm not taking something somewhere it doesnt belong

Yes. It's also illegal. You should never move ants around, especially invasive species such as Pheidole obscurithorax.

Thanks brother! Yeah, I lacked a LOT of knowledge when I first started posting for sure, fortunately the anting community is full of so many awesome, informative people who have kindly guided me quite well! I am still learning a lot, too!

Edited by Flu1d, November 18 2022 - 12:13 PM.