5 replies to this topic

[Works4TheGood]

Location of collection:  State College, PA.  Suburban driveway.

Date of collection:  08/27/15

Habitat of collection:  My neighbor's driveway in the suburbs of State College, PA

Length:  See pics for scale

Distinguishing characteristics: I found none on my own driveway, but I found 10 in a small area of a neighbor's driveway.  Odd.

 

... Lasius flavus?

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Edited by Works4TheGood, September 1 2015 - 6:12 PM.

[James C. Trager]

Close, L. nearcticus.

L. flavus is actually rather hard to find, limited to relatively undisturbed meadow and grassland areas.

[Works4TheGood]

Close, L. nearcticus.

L. flavus is actually rather hard to find, limited to relatively undisturbed meadow and grassland areas.

That's really strange.  Are there any theories as to why that is; why one species is so abundant and the other so rare?  They appear to be almost identical!  I'm guessing that while they're anatomically almost identical (even internally), they have sufficiently different instincts to cause this dichotomy.  I wonder just how similar their DNA is and how certain the scientific community is that these two species cannot produce fertile young.  Since we cannot breed ants in captivity, I'm really not sure how scientists determine species separations at all, except for using DNA-analysis, which of course makes me wonder if they could produce fertile young even though the DNA analysis assumes they can't ... I'm just pondering/rambling out loud a bit.

[William. T]

 

Close, L. nearcticus.

L. flavus is actually rather hard to find, limited to relatively undisturbed meadow and grassland areas.

That's really strange.  Are there any theories as to why that is; why one species is so abundant and the other so rare?  They appear to be almost identical!  I'm guessing that while they're anatomically almost identical (even internally), they have sufficiently different instincts to cause this dichotomy.  I wonder just how similar their DNA is and how certain the scientific community is that these two species cannot produce fertile young.  Since we cannot breed ants in captivity, I'm really not sure how scientists determine species separations at all, except for using DNA-analysis, which of course makes me wonder if they could produce fertile young even though the DNA analysis assumes they can't ... I'm just pondering/rambling out loud a bit.

 

It seems L. Flavus are slow, yellow ants that live almost completely underground, on root aphids. They can't adapt when the backhoe comes. L. Nearctis have black workers.

[Works4TheGood]

 

 

Close, L. nearcticus.

L. flavus is actually rather hard to find, limited to relatively undisturbed meadow and grassland areas.

That's really strange.  Are there any theories as to why that is; why one species is so abundant and the other so rare?  They appear to be almost identical!  I'm guessing that while they're anatomically almost identical (even internally), they have sufficiently different instincts to cause this dichotomy.  I wonder just how similar their DNA is and how certain the scientific community is that these two species cannot produce fertile young.  Since we cannot breed ants in captivity, I'm really not sure how scientists determine species separations at all, except for using DNA-analysis, which of course makes me wonder if they could produce fertile young even though the DNA analysis assumes they can't ... I'm just pondering/rambling out loud a bit.

 

It seems L. Flavus are slow, yellow ants that live almost completely underground, on root aphids. They can't adapt when the backhoe comes. L. Nearctis have black workers.

 

So L. flavus is noticeably slower than L. nearcticus?  And L. nearcticus lives partially on the surface wheras L. flavus lives exclusively under ground?  That might explain a whole lot.

[William. T]

I'm no scientist, but I think the more variety of  food items you can take, the better. And I imagine fungicides, lawnmowers, shovels, having grass roots a your only food, pesticides, and herbicides are not good for aphids either.