4 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

1. Location of collection:  Landers, California.
2. Date of collection: 7-21-2015.
3. Habitat of collection:  High Desert.
4. Length (from head to gaster):  12mm
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture:  Red head; red thorax and redish-brown gaster.
6. Distinguishing characteristics: 
7. Anything else distinctive: 
8. Nest description:

 

 

 

[dspdrew]

I keyed this out to Myrmecocystus romainei. The specimen started to mold before I got to it, so it was in pretty bad condition.

Edited by dspdrew, September 30 2015 - 6:01 AM.

[drtrmiller]

Why does she look so dirty?  Is romainei Latin for "butt-ugly?"

[dspdrew]

Haha oops, I explained why in my journal but forgot to here. By the time I got to her, she was already starting to mold, so I had to scrape as much of it off as I could once the alcohol dried.

[gcsnelling]

Possible but hard to say.This is one of those genera where there is still a huge amount of work to be done. My dads revision cleared up a lot of problems but at the same time opened the door for the discovery of more problems. One of those "obsolete the day it published" scenarios because of its success. Kind of like Creightons ants of NA. Sadly also many of the species are kind of variable.