Only have a camera phone. Can't get closeup pictures.
1. Montana @ ~5000ft
2. 22 April
3. Border area between mixed pine/juniper forest and open grassland.
4. 10mm
5. Medium gold-brown with a black-brown spot on her thorax. last half of her gaster is black-brown. gaster and thorax are almost metalic and appear bright yellow or bright brown-orange when seen under daylight (depending on angle of view). Others are never red, but may be almost cadmium yellow and rusty orange.
6. Rose thorn or sharkfin shaped spine on the ventral side of her postpetiole. It's curved side faces toward her gaster. Don't have good enough magnification to see if she has a psammophore or propodeal spines. Queens and workers almost the same size.
7. Very aggressive. For instance this queen would charge and attack the small leaf i was using to scoop her up. then she'd run and repeat if i moved it. Workers of other nests are like this too.
8. Nests of these make cooling towers. Hourglass or cone shape. In the former case it's very distinct (think nuclear reactor). Roughly 3 to 5cm in diameter. Almost always out of some mix of sand, gravel and prey husks. Sometimes out of mud, sand and prey-husks. Nests are uniformly in small hills of sandy soil. Always near grass or juniper trees.
9. It's raining right now. When its cold or rains they close their nest entrances. Can't get a picture focused enough to show that thorn-like spine.
Edited by Meiun, April 23 2016 - 7:33 PM.
