19 replies to this topic

[Moonie]

Hey all
I got a queen cutting fire wood in Sherman county OR last week by the Washington border cutting by a creek it was on the tree I was cutting by its self
It's 8mm
Black head
Bright red thorax
Solid black bulbus pointed at the end abdomen with sting (I caught it by the wings and it couldn't get stinger to me but I could see the stinger going in and out and it was trying
Still has wings can't see petiole node
I thought it was a camponotus species until I saw the stinger

(Trying to get pictures to post)

[cooIboyJ]

I’m no expert but it sounds like some type of bicolor Pogonomyrmex or solenopsis. I can’t tell though because there are no pics. Correct me of I’m wrong about the genus. Also, only press the post button ONCE even if it is taking a long time to load, because if you press the post button twice then two posts pop up and that is very annoying. If it doesn’t load you can refresh the tab or close it and bring up a new one.

Edited by cooIboyJ, August 27 2024 - 1:28 PM.

[Moonie]

https://photos.app.g...9yM6HN8r9YkzHf7

[Moonie]

I think I got the picture to work in that link could someone let me know if it's working

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

they don't seem to work but it sounds like you have a Solenopsis.sp queen.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

This may help https://www.formicul...res#entry150223

[Moonie]

https://drive.google...ew?usp=drivesdk

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[Moonie]

Hey thanks GOCAMPONOTUS I got them to work yay!!!XD

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

No problem only thing left is to give us access and you should be set.

[Moonie]

Kk and done lol now it should work

[bmb1bee]

I'd like to guess that it's a species of Crematogaster.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Crematogaster.sp is likely.

[OiledOlives]

Camponotus (Myrmentoma)

[Moonie]

Creamatogaster is what I'm leaning towards too but I haven't found a match for the color pattern of
solid black head
solid bright red thorax
Solid black abdomen
8mm
And the closest I've found in appearance "crematogaster coarctata" her over all length is 4mm longer than there max queen length and while they have the right colors they aren't solid black on the head and abdomen some red in "coarctata" and my queen is solid black at both ends with a very clear division between the colors by body segment i'v considered camponotus as well but they can't sting that I've found and she clearly can and wants to sting when I caught her.also her abdomen is more pointed than any of the camponotus queens I've seen and she is way to small to be one of them too. However camponotus does have several that come in the right color combo I'm a lil stumped rn tbh

Is there any more information I can give that might help?

[ANTdrew]

Does not look like Crematogaster to me. Need much better photos to help you, though.

[bmb1bee]

Probably Camponotus essigi, after digging into what species could be found in the state. I was thrown off a bit because of a stinger being mentioned, but it's likely that the queen is just trying to smear formic acid.

[OiledOlives]

Probably Camponotus essigi, after digging into what species could be found in the state. I was thrown off a bit because of a stinger being mentioned, but it's likely that the queen is just trying to smear formic acid.

I highly recommend not jumping to a species level identification with the photos provided. 

Regarding the suggestion of Crematogaster; this genus is only present in the state by populations of C. coarctata and C. mutans, coarctata which seems to be widespread across parts of southern OR and mutans which barely ranges into the state. There are exotic populations of members of this genus in WA, but these are rather far away from Sherman Co. It is difficult to make out any morphological characteristics from the few, blurry ventral photos provided, but from the ones provided, we can barely make out the presence of *one* petiolar node, and the general habitus is reminiscent of the Myrmentoma. 

TL;DR This is not Crematogaster. This is a queen of Camponotus in the Myrmentoma subgenus, but a further identification is not recommended due to the quality and angle of the photos provided.

[bmb1bee]

 

Probably Camponotus essigi, after digging into what species could be found in the state. I was thrown off a bit because of a stinger being mentioned, but it's likely that the queen is just trying to smear formic acid.

I highly recommend not jumping to a species level identification with the photos provided. 

Regarding the suggestion of Crematogaster; this genus is only present in the state by populations of C. coarctata and C. mutans, coarctata which seems to be widespread across parts of southern OR and mutans which barely ranges into the state. There are exotic populations of members of this genus in WA, but these are rather far away from Sherman Co. It is difficult to make out any morphological characteristics from the few, blurry ventral photos provided, but from the ones provided, we can barely make out the presence of *one* petiolar node, and the general habitus is reminiscent of the Myrmentoma. 

TL;DR This is not Crematogaster. This is a queen of Camponotus in the Myrmentoma subgenus, but a further identification is not recommended due to the quality and angle of the photos provided.

 

Fair. I only brought up C. essigi because it was possibly one of the only species that could match with the photos and the other details we figured out so far.

[Moonie]

https://drive.google...ew?usp=drivesdk

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Update she's surprisingly fast as well made for a fun photo shoot 8D

I also was cutting more wood today in the same spot on the same cluster of large trees I found her on ((tree of heaven btw) some cotton wood + black locust trees are around as well ) there was an old rotten down (toh) I got to today and about halfway through cutting the log I started getting stung by ants didn't think to get pictures or look really too close idk if I stepped on nest or they where in a piece of the log but maybe same type from the couple that got squished when I ran inside to get them out of my pants...but if they are the same definitely do sting I plan to investigate tomorrow so they have time to calm down it was starting to get dark so I felt that was a good stopping point for the day lol I'll try and get pictures tomorrow if they look similar of workers and such

[ANTdrew]

Camponotus. This late in the season, though, she is likely a nest reject and will not successfully found a colony.