22 replies to this topic

[mbullock42086]

I had recently moved to Arizona, and I'm totally enjoying it. I used to have to travel 6 hours for this!

  On the 24th, the monsoon began to form, thanks to a one-two punch of tropical storms hitting mexico, and a strong High to the east pulling moisture in.
  
  On the first night (24th), A heavy soaking rain had resulted in a sharp cooldown, triggering a widespread camponotus ocreatus flight that lasted all night long. 

 I collected around 14 ocreatus queens, and spotted tons of fragilis running around:

  



  I had collected four unusual queens that appear to be vafer, though I'm unsure:

  



  I had hiked in further and found a pair of Myrmecocystus queens that were huddling together. 

  I am unsure of species, though behavior seems to indicate these are mimicus, which are apparently known for pairing up like that. though i could be wrong:

  

  I then decided to return home, and fired up the light sheet to see what this sudden surge of heat and moisture brought out- diversity had increased significantly:

  My light is a simple clip-on light with a hood, i used an extender socket and three Y-sockets so i could use four 100-volt 6500k CFLs:

  

  

  Numerous crematogaster sp were attracted immediately, along with a ton of male ocreatus (not pictured, sorry) and novomessor albisetosus queens, along with a surprise random Zootermopsis:

  





Other notable stuff:

  

  









 

  

  June 26th-  Decided to check out a rest area and found alot of potential Camponotus trepidulus and definite festinatus queens.

   they were easily identified by their larger size alone- squatches and frags don't get this big, though examining the clypeus and finding an obvious medial carina confirmed it to be festinatus:

 



  One thing that blew me away was the sheer number of kissing bugs and other assassins here, mostly rubida but recurva, a much larger species, was quite common. 
this species is interesting in that they do not require a blood meal and and be reared entirely on roach lymph and are communal by nature:

  

An unknown species i still cannot identify yet and a beautiful Black Bee assassin (Apiomerus longispinus):





 We'll see what else happens later in the week- it's supposed to be alot heavier.  Thanks for reading!

Edited by mbullock42086, June 27 2024 - 10:04 PM.

[ReignofRage]

Few notes on the identifications: None of those Camponotus festinatus-group gynes are Camponotus absquatulator (head margin hairs blatantly visible) -- it would also be highly unlikely to find them in AZ unless you restricted yourself to the Southwestern corner of the Yuma region. The suspected Camponotus vafer seems more likely to be one of the undescribed species. The Myrmecocystus is indeed M. mimicus. The Novomessor gyne in the picture is actually N. albisetosus. The Camponotus mina could be C. trepidulus. 

[mbullock42086]

Few notes on the identifications: None of those Camponotus festinatus-group gynes are Camponotus absquatulator (head margin hairs blatantly visible) -- it would also be highly unlikely to find them in AZ unless you restricted yourself to the Southwestern corner of the Yuma region. The suspected Camponotus vafer seems more likely to be one of the undescribed species. The Myrmecocystus is indeed M. mimicus. The Novomessor gyne in the picture is actually N. albisetosus. The Camponotus mina could be C. trepidulus. 

much appreciated.  i will update this accordingly.  

[ReignofRage]

they were easily identified by their larger size alone- squatches and frags don't get this big, though examining the clypeus and finding an obvious medial carina confirmed it to be festinatus:  

 

It's a big misconception that size is a reliable identification factor for these species. People, especially here ("The shocking truth about Camponotus fragilis"), have spread the false notion that C. absquatulator gynes can't reach fairly large in size, which is far from the truth - a gyne collected from Yuma, AZ, measured 13 mm. The use of size when it comes to C. absquatulator, C. festinatus, and C. fragilis is daft considering all three species overlap somewhat significantly in size. Queens from a single locale can vary enough in size to not reliably ID them against themselves based solely on size.

[mbullock42086]

 

they were easily identified by their larger size alone- squatches and frags don't get this big, though examining the clypeus and finding an obvious medial carina confirmed it to be festinatus:  

 

It's a big misconception that size is a reliable identification factor for these species. People, especially here ("The shocking truth about Camponotus fragilis"), have spread the false notion that C. absquatulator gynes can't reach fairly large in size, which is far from the truth - a gyne collected from Yuma, AZ, measured 13 mm. The use of size when it comes to C. absquatulator, C. festinatus, and C. fragilis is daft considering all three species overlap somewhat significantly in size. Queens from a single locale can vary enough in size to not reliably ID them against themselves based solely on size.

 

 I swear i had read that festinatus was the largest one in antwiki, but regardless, i'll take your word for it.  Look forward to more of my misidentifications in the future, this isn't my element

  seriously though thanks for the info.

[mbullock42086]

6/29

  Back at the light sheet, some interesting stuff came this time.

  

  A high pressure system moved through the past day, triggering a good flight of what i presume to be S. amblychila:

  

  

  Crematogaster were far more abundant, these appear to be three separate species-

   Shiny, large and jet-black, with black wing venation:

  

  Shiny, large and a deep brown, brown wing venation:

  

   Small and brown, around 6-7mm or so in body length:

  

   A beautiful camponotus, which I presume to be C. sayi also made an appearance:

  

  

   A random isolated formica came to the sheet, I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say... F. perpilosa?:

  

  I believe these are Pheidole hyatti, with a single specimen of what looks like P. xerophila to me:

  

  

  I'm probably wrong, but xerophila was the closest looking one i could find to it.

  Lastly a couple of what i assume are Tapinoma sessile.  there's a pretty big colony of them here:

  

  And to close, a large and beautiful Glenurus ludiger, a species of picture-winged antlion:

  

  The monsoon is still going strong, a haboob forced me to take the sheet down and pack it up.  

   A waning crescent moon and more storms should make the light sheet very interesting for the next week or so.

  

[ReignofRage]

The "Formica" is Dorymyrmex bicolor, The "Pheidole hyatti" is likely Pheidole spadonia, the "P. xerophila" is P. cerebrosior, and the "Tapinoma sessile" is Dorymyrmex "insanus." Nice find on the Camponotus sayi, they're a nice species to keep - super thermophilic and have no qualms about having a completely dry nest.

[ANTdrew]

That is one heck of a haul! Amazing light setup, too.

Edited by ANTdrew, July 1 2024 - 2:31 AM.

[AnthonyP163]

Looks like that orange Pheidole toward the end could be P. spadonia

[mbullock42086]

7/1/24:

  

   Fired up the light sheet for a couple of hours before a really strong thunderstorm outflow forced me to take the sheet down for the night

  

  the wind simply didn't let up til way late. I still got a few things but the wind constantly moving the sheet made it very hard to pick out single ants from thousands of moving small insects.

   Far more Pheidole cerebrosior, dorymyrmex bicolor this time, with some kind of pretty little solenopsis that was far less numerous than the amblychila.  

   An unknown Pheidole sp appeared- larger than spadonia, and a darker red more like a pogonomyrmex rugosus.

  Unknown pheidole:

  

  P. cerebrosior:

  

  P. spadonia:

  

  D bicolor:

 

  unknown solenopsis:
 

  

7/3/24:

  The deep moisture has moved back east- the storms have become far more isolated but more intense. 

  

  

  The sheet mostly attracted crematogaster, ant-wise, and numerous male Odontomachus desertorum:

  

  I wasnt seeing female desertorum anywhere, then realized i should be looking around in the dark corners of the yard and BINGO:

  

  Whilst looking for more trapjaws a nice C. sayi smacked me in the forehead and said hi:

  

  I also found a wandering ocreatus queen (not pictured)  

  non-ant stuff that came:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  I also found a wandering ocreatus queen (not pictured)  

  We'll see if I can get more odontomachus tonight.. thanks for reading!

Edited by mbullock42086, July 5 2024 - 2:34 AM.

[mbullock42086]

 7/5-7/22

Was able to catch a bunch of odontomachus desertorum, they appear to be triggered by a hot dry wind as i always found them on windy evenings.  

  I collected males for all of them so they could possibly breed. Note the mites on the alate this specimen died the day after.

 

 

 

a few solenopsis krockowi appeared:

 

  More camponotus sayi have appeared, I'm up to around 9 or so now.  

 

  Was able to identify these unusual festinatus sp-  they're C puderosus, and i apparently have both the dark and light forms.
  They are mostly confined to mexico and central america but a small portion of their rang pokes into arizona. they keep flying and appear to be rain-triggered like fragilis and absquatulator.

 

  the REAL Formica perpilosa-  because these guys tend to be diurnal fliers i never see them at my lights.  i decided to flip stones nearby and found her:

  

Two more colobopsis papago have made an appearance, only one pictured:

 And what i think is forelius pruinosus? Not sure- very small:

  

 

Pretty much everything flew by now, so any other flights will be callows that didn't fly last time or places that didn't get enough rain to trigger a flight.

 

Edited by mbullock42086, August 24 2024 - 3:57 PM.

[ReignofRage]

It's not Colobopsis papago, but it is some sort of Camponotini.

[mbullock42086]

It's not Colobopsis papago, but it is some sort of Camponotini.

  there's a head shot.  

[ReignofRage]

Ah okay, thank you. The first image made it look almost like it had a head shape akin to a minor worker of Colobopsis, haha.

[mbullock42086]

Its been pretty slow, really.  the constant monsoon barrage has rained everything out for weeks at a time- it only now is finally weakening, allowing better daytime heating.

  When the monsoon was at its strongest we rarely got a sunny day, causing a major drop in flights- a few here and there, the diversity NON-ant-wise was pretty nice, with some rare insects visiting.

  these finds are from late july til now.

  While out collecting plants for my lepidotpera a random foraging Myrmecocystus mimicus ran in front of me:

  

  I returned home and nothing really special.  a few isolated pheidole, a dorymyrmex here and there..  

  The next night was a pretty unusual one-  I decided to talk an evening walk- but decided to turn my light sheet on DURING THE DAYTIME. to see what crepuscular stuff appears upon my return:

  Two myrmecocystus mexicanus came to my light!  that was pretty cool lol.  

  I was pretty amped up, seeing that told me leafcutters might fly too..  so i stayed up ALLLL night long looking for staging alates and saw a female alate pop out then dart back in, telling me they were staging..

  Lo and behold, staying up paid off.  A decent female-heavy Acromyrmex versicolor flight happened right before my eyes.  Unusually though, these guys didn't do it in the correct order.  At sunrise it was females mostly.  males were not abundant enough to cause the famous egg-shaped clouds, but they all decided to mate right above a white car and hanging around someone else's car in AZ is a BIG TIME nono so it felt weird hanging around it.  to make matters worse a homeless woman appeared and started asking questions about the houses, indicating she was a squatter and may be the arsonist that burnt down two homes here earlier in the year, making me VERY reluctant to even be seen near her out of fear i would be considered an accomplice...

ANYWAY   It was a decent isolated mating swarm, and i was able to collect 14 females and a bunch of males:

 

 

 
  It was so satisfying to finally find a good mating swarm.  i live in the region with polygynous versicolor, so paired the females up  2 per container.   

Edited by mbullock42086, August 15 2024 - 4:18 PM.

[mbullock42086]

tonight was the night for dorymyrmex.

  bicolor, insanus, and what appears to be smithi:

  

  Pheidole cerebrosior and spadonia flew, forelius also made an appearance.

  Bicolor- 3
  insanus- 1
  smithi- 10
  Spadonia- 5
  Cerebrosior- 2
  forelius- 2
  

[gcsnelling]

 

It's not Colobopsis papago, but it is some sort of Camponotini.

20240718_023654.png

  there's a head shot.  

 

Have you considered C. ulcerosus?

[mbullock42086]

 

 

It's not Colobopsis papago, but it is some sort of Camponotini.

20240718_023654.png

  there's a head shot.  

 

Have you considered C. ulcerosus?

 

Definitely not ulcerosus- queens of those have a more normal-looking Camponotus face.  This is definitely colobopsis papago, she's only happy inside a straw that i have repurposed to use like a miniature test tube 

  you just saw from a weird angle that obscured her cork-head alot lol

[gcsnelling]

Sounds good,

[mbullock42086]

A truly epic morning following an intense bout of severe thunderstorms- one storm just sat above dumping rain for most of the afternoon.

 i noticed it was alot cooler than usual, last night, and this told me a good acromyrmex flight would occur in the morning, so i set the alarm for 5:30am..
  Woke up and stepped out, and found a huge flight was occurring- i was able to see the males and females staging separately, with thousands of females emerging and flying off.
  As the sun began to peak over the mountain, obscured by clouds, the males began to form dense swarm clusters, making them easily spotted from a distance.

heres a video of one of the swarms:

https://www.formicul...nuptial-flight/
 

  so many of these guys were raining down that it sounded like actual rainfall- at one a mating swarm formed directly on me, showering me with mating clusters of alates.

I havent even counted all of them, yet. lol  I know i got over 100 though.

 

What a morning!  

Edited by mbullock42086, August 24 2024 - 9:31 AM.