8 replies to this topic

[ANTdrew]

1. Jones Point Park, next to trail by woods along the Potomac River.
2. Date: 7/13/24
3. Habitat: Riparian habitat next to a river
4. Length: about 6mm-7mm
5. Color: Reddish brown with lighter bands on gaster
6. Dealate found at 10:30am wandering on a paved trail.

[ANTdrew]

Bump. Mettcollsuss, where you at?

[ColKurtz]

most likely a pilifera

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Mettcollsuss, where you at?

LOL. I second P.pilifera

[Artisan_Ants]

I highly doubt this ID thread would be created on P. pillifera as it is a fairly common species within VA. ANTdrew has been on for a while and has been in the hobby for a long time as well and he definitely knows the ants in his area well. Although I don’t know for sure if P. pillifera is a common species as I don’t live there, I would believe that he would know how to identify P. pillifera if he saw it.

This is still a very good suggestion though but I most likely think it would be P. megacephala or Pheidole megacephala (note the red head and darker colors compared to the brighter colors or other species like that of P. pillifera); a highly invasive species worldwide, occupying multiple countries and areas worldwide which practically makes it a Pheidole version of S. invicta. Distribution on AntWiki shows that Maryland MAY be an affected area by populations of such, and since Alexandria is fairly close by, it would make sense for a P. megacephala queen to have turned up. This species is also known to thrive in all kinds of environments and wipe other ant species and are known to be very aggressive towards them. According to AntWiki, their flights tend to be in August (but that is most likely the average period for flights worldwide since this species has taken over so many places. It could also be the general flight period for their native territory). Since this species has expanded it’s populations to so many areas, it’s flight periods are very likely to be different in other countries obviously based of on various different ecological and non-ecological factors. This would explain why you found this de-alate in July instead of August (August is still a relatively good average if even an average at all). Queens are known to be polygynous which explains why this species is so destructive and expansive as they can form super colonies. In conclusion, I would believe this would be P. megacephala other than different species, or I could be completely wrong and this could just be a weird variant/morph of a native species.

(Please correct me if I’m wrong on any of this).

[ANTdrew]

I posted this since the queen reminds me a lot of a Pheidole davisi I collected a few years ago. I’m hoping this could be another one, but I wanted some other opinions.

[Artisan_Ants]

I did some verification and I am countering my opinion on P. megacephala as It shows that Maryland may be an affected area but it has no specimens found in those areas. Whatever species this queen is; it is definitely a species in the Pheidole pillifera-group. Between P. pillifera and P. davisi I would think that it looks more like a pillifera queen in my opinion. I can’t seem to get any good looks a P. davisi queens although I’ve heard that they are all black in color. Anyways all in all, I feel like P. pillifera is the best way to go here (agreeing with GOCAMPONOTUS and ColKurtz).

[OiledOlives]

Pheidole pilifera is correct

[ANTdrew]

Cool. She already laid some eggs.