10 replies to this topic

[AntTitan]

What Species Queen is This?
1.  McCall, Idaho, USA
2. 6/9/2023
 
Body:
1. dirt road on a ranch surrounded by forest with thick trees and a lack nearby

2. 6/8/2023
3. dirt road surrounded by forest with trees/brush
4.  As you can see in the pictures below it is 1-1 1/4 cm long
5.  Rusty orange on head and most of thorax with a black Gaster and black stripe across lower part of thorax with black legs, antenna, mandibles and eyes. small hairs but you can't notice till you zoom in with a camera
6. one petiole, with about 10 antennal segments but it's hard to see and I'm not good at counting these so take it with a grain of salt
7. she was very energetic always trying to run around and escape when I pick her up (way more than Tetromorium queens)
8. couldn't find nest

 

thank you all for the time and effort of looking at this topic and commenting any and all suggestions, ID, or advice would be amazing, I tried looking into it and I thought it's probably some Formica species or maybe some Camponotus species but I don't know.

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[B_rad0806]

Looks like Formica, I'm not really familiar with species in Idaho so someone else can get it down to the species name. 

[bmb1bee]

Based on Formica species in Idaho listed on iNaturalist, it looks like a Formica obscuripes queen. I don't know much about Idaho ants firsthand though, so I'm not too sure myself.

[Mettcollsuss]

Formica integra group

[Manitobant]

Yup formica rufa/integra group. She is a social parasite so you will need to get host workers.

[AntTitan]

okay so if it is a social parasite how do I  raise it?

[Jonathan5608]

okay so if it is a social parasite how do I raise it?

you will need to get host workers.

[AntTitan]

but how, I live in the suburbs, i found it on a camping trip several hours from here. would tetromorium brood/workers work? 

[ColAnt735]

but how, I live in the suburbs, i found it on a camping trip several hours from here. would tetromorium brood/workers work? 

No they wouldn't. For social parasites always look for workers and brood of the same genus to introduce to the colony.

[James C. Trager]

This looks more like Formica ravida than obscuripes to me, since she's uniformly matte and with a relatively narrow head. You'll still need to get some fusca group brood to get her started, preferably pupae. 

Edited by James C. Trager, June 14 2023 - 8:14 AM.

[AntObserver]

I recently went to the mountains and found a few colonies of two different types of Formicas. They like to nest under logs and rocks, especially rocks in my experience. They commonly keep the pupa just under the rocks for the heat. I would go back to mountains and look under rocks for a colony and try to collect some pupa. A asperator would be very handy! Best of luck.