12 replies to this topic

[cooIboyJ]

I caught a queen in my neighborhood park and I want to know what species she is. I think she might be semi-claustrial because I have never been successful with this species.

[Ants_Dakota]

I caught a queen in my neighborhood park and I want to know what species she is. I think she might be semi-claustrial because I have never been successful with this species.

Good evening. If you wish to get a serious ID on your ant species, you will want to follow the ant identification template found here.

[cooIboyJ]

Alright I’ll make it a little better:

I found the queen in a little park on 29/8/24 in west Henderson NV. The habitat was a field with some trees around it (that’s the best description I can give). The length of the queen is around 7-9 millimeters. The coloration is a black gaster and head with a reddish thorax. I have noticed that the queens of this species are very fast and skittish. I caught the alate at around 8:30 pm I’d say.
That is probably the best I can do.

[Ants_Dakota]

Alright I’ll make it a little better:

I found the queen in a little park on 29/8/24 in west Henderson NV. The habitat was a field with some trees around it (that’s the best description I can give). The length of the queen is around 7-9 millimeters. The coloration is a black gaster and head with a reddish thorax. I have noticed that the queens of this species are very fast and skittish. I caught the alate at around 8:30 pm I’d say.
That is probably the best I can do.

I would recommend editing your first post to follow the template by copying and pasting it and filling in details. You can look at an ID post I made here if that would help. That being said, my best guess would be you have some species of formica, and one that looks to be fully claustral. Depending on how good images you can get or if you have access to a microscope, you can follow a key like this one on antwiki, or, less accurately but easier for observation, you can use antmaps to see the species of formica located in your region, in this case Nevada, and view images of each of them and compare them with your queen. This is probably your best bet because I cannot ID much because of the graininess of the image.

[mbullock42086]

probably either F perpilosa or F subpolita both are found in that region and occur in syntopy.

Edit- OOPS i worded that poorly too.  subpolita is in clark county.  sorry bout the confusion.

Edited by mbullock42086, September 11 2024 - 4:59 PM.

[ReignofRage]

Formica perpilosa have orange queens, not reddish and black. I also would find any record of Formica subpolita very suspect sonsidering they are a mountainous species and Henderson, NV is very much a desert. I am not even sure if it can be taken to Formica.

[gcsnelling]

Gotta have a better picture, at least better lit.

[mbullock42086]

 

Formica perpilosa have orange queens, not reddish and black. I also would find any record of Formica subpolita very suspect sonsidering they are a mountainous species and Henderson, NV is very much a desert. I am not even sure if it can be taken to Formica.

there definitely is a dark form of perpilosa, its reddish-chestnut colored and has a blotch on the head making it look dark until you look close.

   i worded it poorly, its not a black and red head.  That said, you're right this is unlikely to be formica

  If it were perpilosa it would've flown in the daytime around noon, I've never seen perpilosa fly at night.

  

Edited by mbullock42086, September 11 2024 - 5:04 PM.

[cooIboyJ]

I found it at around 8pm

[ReignofRage]

there definitely is a dark form of perpilosa, its reddish-chestnut colored and has a blotch on the head making it look dark until you look close.

 

That is likely F. manni. Both species are very similar.

[Ants_Dakota]

 

there definitely is a dark form of perpilosa, its reddish-chestnut colored and has a blotch on the head making it look dark until you look close.

 

That is likely F. manni. Both species are very similar.

 

What makes this unlikely to be Formica? Just so I can get my ID's better in the future.

[ReignofRage]

The head shape and size compared to mesosoma, and size just seems off to me for it to be Formica. However, with the poor quality photo, it's a toss up on what it is.

[Ants_Dakota]

The head shape and size compared to mesosoma, and size just seems off to me for it to be Formica. However, with the poor quality photo, it's a toss up on what it is.

Thank you for the explanation!