15 replies to this topic

[SegaGenitals]

Found this queen on the tennis court at skyline country club in Tucson AZ. The day is 21feb24 and the habitat was Rocky. She is 7/16 in long and moves pretty slow and cautious

Attached Images

• 
• 
• 

[Artisan_Ants]

Unusual. Looks like Messor which is weird because Messor species are found in Europe and Asia. Best guess is some sort of Pogonomyrmex. Like P. rusgosus (please correct me since I am not fully sure). But I’m more on the Messor side. It could even be a Messor minor which is amazing. Strange find…

Edited by Artisan_Ants, February 21 2024 - 5:37 PM.

[TacticalHandleGaming]

I'm no expert, but after looking I'd agree on Pogonomyrmex rugosus. Looks very similar to Dspdrew's queen from a few years back.

 

[Artisan_Ants]

Yeah, upon further inspection, it is very likely P. rusgosus. The only strange thing is that she has flown in February when she should be flying in late summer like July, August, and September.

Edited by Artisan_Ants, February 21 2024 - 6:22 PM.

[SegaGenitals]

Thank you guys.  That's the closest I could come up with as well.  Time to research the species.  can't wait till trap jaws season!! 

Edited by SegaGenitals, February 21 2024 - 6:22 PM.

[SegaGenitals]

It's gone from pretty cool to a sudden string of 80F degree days. Maybe it triggered a flight? Hopefully it wasn't just one colony that got bamboozled and she's had the chance to mate. 

[TacticalHandleGaming]

Yeah, upon further inspection, it is very likely P. rusgosus. The only strange thing is that she has flown in February when she should be flying in late summer like July, August, and September.

I'm wondering if she was kicked out from a colony she didn't fly from, or maybe she was scavenging for food?

[futurebird]

My Pogonomyrmex occidentalis was always producing rouge alates. When it still had a queen there were three female alates that just popped up out of nowhere and maybe six or so drones. Then after the queen died the colony kept going for a loooong time making male alates in increasing numbers. I had to remove them from time to time as they were lazy bones (lazy exoskeletons?) and desperate to get out anyways. 

 

I wonder if rouge off season founding is a background survival strategy? If queenless colonies are always pumping out a trickle of males and now and then colonies with queens raise a few queens it might make for a more easy founding process. If this is an offseason queen I'm curious to see if she can produce workers. I suspect she will lay eggs and at least make males Pogonomyrmex do that, and even the workers seem to be able to lay eggs no problem when a queen isn't around.  Good luck!

[ReignofRage]

The pronotum looks very off to be P. rugosus and much more akin to Veromessor pergandei. Let's not jump to firm conclusions based on mediocre pictures.

 

Side note: it's not unknown that P. rugosus have infrequent spring flights.

[bmb1bee]

I also believe it looks more like V. pergandei. They typically have nuptial flights around this time of year, unlike P. rugosus's flights after the summer monsoons. Though like Reign said, it's possible for P. rugosus to fly sooner.

[Artisan_Ants]

ReignOfRage has a very good point. I thought that it was Veromessor, but then I got confused and thought it was Novomessor, and obviously figured out that it would not be a match. Yeah this is surely a V. pergandei.

Edited by Artisan_Ants, February 22 2024 - 4:40 AM.

[Manitobant]

Yeah definitely V. pergandei id say. They’re a fully claustral species.

[SegaGenitals]

Thank you all for the input I really just wanted to save her from the tennis ball smashing her or her dying of thirst.  I'll probably release her into my backyard, plenty of room there 

[Manitobant]

Why not keep her? These guys are very easy to raise

[SegaGenitals]

I feed my ants in the backyard and they get free reign so I'm keeping her technically  

[AsdinAnts]

if there are other ants in your backyard, she’ll most likely die