14 replies to this topic

[Manitobant]

As the weather gets colder and the 2023 anting season comes to a close, it is once again time for the yearly highlights thread, detailing our greatest catches, discoveries, achievements and overall highlights of the season.


Like always, i will start:

2023 has been a great year, particularly in terms of nuptial flights. This year I caught record numbers of many different species, such as formica montana and polyergus Mexicanus (i got around 80 in total!) as well as witnessed the largest Camponotus flights i have seen since 2019. I also successfully raised lasius subglaber, formica integra and formica ulkei to biological workers, caught a bunch of cryptics in toronto and have lasius subumbratus, formica ravida and formica dakotensis queens fully hosted up and ready to go for this spring!

[ANTdrew]

It was a decent season for me. The highlight was definitely my trip to Guatemala where I saw countless amazing species. I detailed it here: https://www.formicul...s/?fromsearch=1
A non-ant highlight was raising multiple Carolina mantises from eggs to adulthood and releasing them in my yard to mate. I even saw a wild male swoop in immediately after releasing our only female mantis.

[OiledOlives]

This year, I found around 100 species of ants. I got my A. lamellidens to alates and got a bunch of species that I've wanted for a while (more A. ashmeadi, A. lamellidens, A. floridana, A. treatae, A. mariae, T. americanus, T. minutissimus, T. ambiguus, P. pilifera, P. morrisii, P. dentigula, T. pergandei, F. aserva, F. subintegra, P. pallidus, P. ejectus, Proceratium, C. vermiculata, C. impressa, and C. snellingi), many of which are uncommonly found and or recorded. I also got to work at the Mississippi Entomological Museum for two weeks, where I saw hundreds of different species and gained plenty of experience with lab work.

[100lols]

Awesome thread! My season started out by witnessing a Dorymyrmex bicolor nuptial flight in early June. It was a first for me on my street and was interesting because the flight happened during the day. I also saw the usual Solenopsis xyloni and Brachymyrmex patagonicus flights in my neighborhood this year.

The highlight was chasing the tiny bit of rain we got this summer here in Southern California and catching a couple desert species flights. Caught my first Pheidole and Myrmecocystus queens this year during that event. I also was able to find plenty of harvester ant queens this year and even at times when there was no rain and it wasn’t super hot lol.

Overall, I am sad we didn’t have much rain this summer. But it was a fun year for anting. Especially because I’ve gotten more serious with ant keeping and I’m on this awesome forum now.

Cheers,
Dax London

[antsriondel]

This season was great in some aspects terrible in others. I managed to catch many different species and overall have enjoyed keeping them. I bought my dream genus (Pheidole) and I have a colony of Liometopum nearing the hundreds. On the other hand Liometopum luctuosum flights were a lot smaller this year than last and also much more varied. I found a few Queens in late May and another few in early July. It was quite rough as I was unable to catch many. Hopefully more next year. I also had to say goodbye to my largest colony, my favourite colony and my oldest colony.

[B_rad0806]

Me personally I feel like I had an above average season, not the greatest. Although most people would think I had an amazing season, I hold myself to higher standards knowing the knowledge I have and that I can basically catch almost anything I please. My season along with basically everyones, was sadly cut short though due to Hurricane Hillary. Everything I caught in timeline order was Veromessor pergandei, Myrmecocystus creightoni, Pheidole barbata, Myrmecocystus kennedyi-group sp., Camponotus ca02, Camponotus vicinus, Camponotus maritimus, Camponotus laevigatus, Camponotus clarithorax, Myrmecocystus wheeleri, Myrmecocystus testaceus, Camponotus essigi, Pogonomyrmex californicus, Veromessor andrei, Acromyrmex versicolor, Pogonomyrmex rugosus, Myrmecocystus navajo, Myrmecocystus mimicus, Pogonomyrmex maricopa, Novomessor cockerelli, Camponotus fragilis, Pogonomyrmex imberbiculus, Pheidole xerophilla, Myrmecocystus mexicanus, Pheidole cerebrosior, Myrmecocystus endiodioctes sp., and Myrmecocystus yuma. If the season wasn't cut short then I would probably have another 7-10 species on there. Other than that I learned a lot this season, caught 10 species that I haven't caught before, went to new places, and had a lot of fun. Next season though, I will definitely have my best season and will catch way more queens and species than I did this year. 

Edited by B_rad0806, September 28 2023 - 6:57 PM.

[AntsCali098]

Even with the colder year in California, we still had some optimal days for anting out in the desert.

This year my summer highlight was going out to yucca valley, catching Myrmecocystus sp queens and a few different pheidole, along with a few other less noteible species, including pogonomrymex rugosus and dorymyrmex bicolor. It was definitely the best summer of my anting life, it was really fun to take that anting trip out to the desert, it's so rewarding to make catches out there.

In the spring during late April, I was able to catch 5 different camponotus species in San Diego including vicinus and ca02. I personally love forest anting, especially at night. It's a lot cooler then the desert while still being able to catch some really fun camponotus. The forest is also beautiful at night so the mountains are a really cool place to go.

Overall, it was by far the best anting I've ever had, and my experience is getting better every year. Excited for next year! Hoping to visit the same places, such a fun anting year for me.

[Ernteameise]

Well, for me, it was an awesome year because I re-kindled my love for ants!

And I started to keep ants again, first time after decades in my childhood.

I started out with a wonderful harvester ant colony of Messor barbarus, these girls are a joy and perfect for beginners and there is always something going on.

Then I also got a few other colonies of species that remain small, like Temnothorax nylanderi and Camponotus piceus.

I collected a Lasius niger queen and watched her found her colony.

I rescued a Messor colony and brought them back from the brink.

And then I had this crazy idea of becoming the first veterinarian to give lectures on ants at European veterinary conferences. Which was met with enthusiasm, so I am speaking in November in Birmingham /UK and in April in Germany.

Edited by Ernteameise, September 28 2023 - 11:36 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Well, for me, it was an awesome year because I re-kindled my love for ants!
And I started to keep ants again, first time after decades in my childhood.
I started out with a wonderful harvester ant colony of Messor barbarus, these girls are a joy and perfect for beginners and there is always something going on.
Then I also got a few other colonies of species that remain small, like Temnothorax nylanderi and Camponotus piceus.
I collected a Lasius niger queen and watched her found her colony.
I rescued a Messor colony and brought them back from the brink.
And then I had this crazy idea of becoming the first veterinarian to give lectures on ants at European veterinary conferences. Which was met with enthusiasm, so I am speaking in November in Birmingham /UK and in April in Germany.

Having a real vet around has certainly elevated the discourse on FC.

[Jonathan5608]

Caught quite a bit of stuff this year. Early months I caught some c. chromaiodes and nylanderia. Then in July I caught some pheidole tysoni and Temnothorax along with the usual tetra. I also caught a Formica sp. which I thing is incerta, dorymyrmex grandulus, and tapinoma sessile. To rap it all up I caught some lasius Niger and b depilis in the late season. There was also sp parasitics that I caught but they didn’t make it. Have to try next year.

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

I discovered ant keeping as a hobby late in 2022 and had my first colony of Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis by early 2023.

About 10 months later they've gone from 28 to > 200 with no signs of slowing down.

And i made my own first nest expansion for them just last week.
 

I had no idea such small creatures could fill so much of my time so enjoyably.

I must play about 20%-30% less game now, as i just hit pause, to trun and watch the ants for a while, from time to time throughout the day.

Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, September 29 2023 - 11:45 AM.

[ZATrippit]

This thread is so northern-hemisphere centric!
Just kidding . Spring has sprung here in NZ, and I've already located two species of queens and about a dozen workers of different species. I've had a lot of trouble IDing as there is their is very little helpful information on NZ ant species online. I'm only sure of Monomorium antarcticum sad face. My equipment will arrive next week however, so that's what I'm looking forward to.

[Ernteameise]

This thread is so northern-hemisphere centric!
Just kidding . Spring has sprung here in NZ, and I've already located two species of queens and about a dozen workers of different species. I've had a lot of trouble IDing as there is their is very little helpful information on NZ ant species online. I'm only sure of Monomorium antarcticum sad face. My equipment will arrive next week however, so that's what I'm looking forward to.

Looking forward to your regular reports from NZ then!

I have lived in NZ for 10 years, doing my Masters and PhD (with wild NZ birds on offshore islands) but back then, I had no interest whatsoever in ants.

So I do know nothing about NZ species.

It will be great to have someone onboard who will enlighten all of us!

[ThomasStan]

This year was an amazing year for me! I made many friends online and I caught so many species i’ve only dreamed of having for many years!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bmb1bee]

This year was a wild ride for me. I temporarily lost interest in ants and switched over to beetles and other arthropods over winter last year, since there wasn't much going on. That all changed when spring hit though.

 

Didn't make it to all of this year's nuptial flights, but was able to get decent amounts of native queens for the first time! Spring was the start of it. Prenolepis imparis and Camponotus sp. were definitely a treat and fun to catch, as well as flipping rocks in SoCal for Hypoponera sp. and Tetramorium bicarinatum.

 

I'd also found Formica queens for the first time in early June. I managed to collect around 7 that month, which I'll try to do again next year. A friend traded a parasitic Formica ravida queen to me as well, so I had a bit of fun giving her tons of F. moki hosts. Then July passed, and I'd ended up with over 500 Tetramorium immigrans queens... July I also went on vacation, where I found tons of interesting new ant species. The tropical species there were jaw-dropping, including Polyrhachis dives and Tetraponera rufonigra.

 

Fall wasn't the end of it. I wasn't successful in catching my own fall-flying Camponotus unfortunately, but a friend I have managed to get a few the day I wasn't able to go. I did, however, manage to collect a few Solenopsis sp. queens in East Bay. It happens to be a pretty interesting dark molesta-group species that I believe may be S. validiuscula. If things warm up again, I might try for Pogonomyrmex subdentatus one final time before spring, and probably also flip rocks for Aphaenogaster occidentalis.

 

And speaking of Camponotus, I found a solid purpose to keep ants after a little while. This was to keep all of California's Camponotus species simultaneously. I'm around 70% complete species-wise, not counting variants and possible undescribed species.

 

My final thoughts on this year? It was absolutely amazing. But. Next year could be even better! 

Edited by bmb1bee, October 12 2023 - 9:16 AM.