15 replies to this topic

[jimbodw07]

Date: March 19th to present, 2014

Species: Possibly Messor pergandei (Black Harvester Ants)

Location: High Desert (Hwy 138 and Phelan)

Notes: Ants were probably triggered due to temperature changes and the last major storm we had.

Temps: avg. daytime temp=60 degrees

            avg. nighttime temp=50 degrees

 

All through out last week and this week, I've noticed a large number of founding claustral chambers. The majority of these chambers  when observed at night were occupied by Messor pergandei queens. The mating chart that Dspdrew worked on and uploaded is pretty darn accurate. According to the chart, the mating season for this species is March through April.

 

Other News: According to NOAA, El nino is strengthening and by summer we could have an interesting monsoon season. If El nino continues, Southern California could face a strong upcoming winter and spring season. 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Yeah, that looks like M. pergandei to me. Were these queens coming out of their nests at night? Can you post a picture of one of their founding chambers? I am going to be creating pages or threads for all the local ants with information not found on some of the other websites.

[dspdrew]

I was in the area with my friend, so I actually drove to the Phelon area and looked around a few spots, but never even saw M. pergandei at all. I tried to post on here to hopefully get you to reply with the location or maybe even meet us there somewhere, but I guess my post never even went through.

[jimbodw07]

The nests were inactive at the time I spotted these queens. By night fall, the majority of the nests had very few workers around and most were moving slow. It's been cool here at night. Yeah I've got some pics and a short video (really short). I'll post them here.

 

Ah bummer, was the post error a technical issue? You know, the one thing that I've noticed about these chambers was that the majority of them were near the road's edge. When I say road, I mean the dirt roads that are numerous around here. In other words, your best bet would have been to look in large clearings free from any plant life (the road's edge, construction clearings, and natural clearings). For example, today I spotted more founding chambers along a soft, dirt shoulder of a major road that runs near my house. It seems like the mating season for this species is still active. I am finding new chambers.

Let me know if you have any questions.  

[jimbodw07]

[jimbodw07]

Here is a short video clip of a Messor Pergandei queen digging her founding chamber.

 

http://s344.photobuc...Messor.mp4.html

[dspdrew]

Aww man we were right there on some of those dirt roads, but most of the area looked like there was way too much brush and hardly any bare dirt so I figured it just wasn't a good area. So you're saying around there they stick to the sides of the road where there actually is some clear dirt? I know that's usually where I see a lot of ants. Did these have their mating flight at night? Do you think I could still find some tomorrow, I notice the weather right now says it's snowing there?? It was pretty warm there yesterday, and today it says it's supposed to be like 55 degrees or so...

[jimbodw07]

Yea and I'm guessing that they stick to the side of the road because the soil on the edge isn't as compacted as the actual road. At least that's what I've noticed. Yes, I definitely think you could find some tomorrow or today depending on when you read this. In fact, I took some more photos of founding chambers today.  

Hehe snowing? Nope, clear skies and cold temps is what I can report here.

 

By the way, if you plan on coming here, you should come at dusk and stay until it gets dark (I've noticed that they are more active at night). These queens are easier to obtain if you simply wait until she resurfaces from her burrow. I can still see a lot of open chambers and some closed ones as well. Digging them up during the day will probably result in empty test tubes, I should know hehe. 

[jimbodw07]

Here are some more pics of founding chambers and locations. This should give you a general idea of where you can expect to find these queens. Photo 1: Dirt road that is moderately traveled. Photo 2: Dirt road that is rarely traveled on. I found founding chambers all over this road. Photo 3: A dry creek bed with more founding chambers.

[dspdrew]

Ahh I see, we saw a few of those next to the fire station where we were looking around. I dug for a while, but gave up. I was pretty sure they were founding chambers of some sort because there were no ants. The weird thing is, we saw all sorts of different species of ants there, but never saw any M. pergandei. There were some inactive nests, so I guess it's possible those were M. pergandei. Are there names to any of those roads so I know I'm in the right location, I might go there tomorrow if it's not snowing and raining already (snow and rain is forcasted for tomorrow night).

 

I sent you a PM.

[jimbodw07]

The main road there which is near my house is Oasis Rd. Oasis Rd intersects hwy138. I'll give details later when you call.

[dspdrew]

Oh duh.. that looks like a much better area--much more desert-like. We were at that upper part of the city, before Angeles Crest Hwy, no wonder we didn't see any M. pergandei.

[jimbodw07]

Yup. Hey man like I said before, I know some good spots including the areas near my house where we can find some queens. Actually, there is a dirt road that I haven't checked in awhile that may have some queens as well. 

[dspdrew]

Well I picked up six of them.

 

Here's some close up pictures of one of them.

 

 

 

 

It was so cold and windy my ears and fingers were going numb--I wasn't really dressed right for this. As slow as they were moving, sometimes I almost didn't grab them in time because it took me so long to get the tops off my containers with my frozen dysfunctional hands.

 

I noticed there's tons of closed up founding chambers as well as a few open ones. Did you ever actually see any mating flights? What I'm wondering is if there is some reason they are continuing to work on their nests for several nights, or if the ones out digging each night were from another small mating flight earlier that day. I would really like to find out what time they are actually flying. Judging by their progress, I would guess some time in the afternoon if they flew that day.

[jimbodw07]

Yeah that sounds like the high desert.

Sadly, no I didn't see the mating flights. However, one thing that I noticed today was that some of the chambers that were closed the previous day were open today. So it could be that the queens are closing and reopening their chambers multiple times a week.

 

It's funny because I have been working in the yard for the past few weeks and I don't remember seeing any flights. I have plenty of Messor p. nests throughout my yard and most of them weren't too active. The next day, they just appeared out of nowhere. It might rain tomorrow so I'll pay extra attention to see if I can catch a mating flight.

[dspdrew]

I haven't witnessed very many mating flights, but I did see a Camponotus semitestaceus flight in Pinyon Pines a few weeks ago. There was a big swarm of them flying by for about 15 minutes and then it was all over, so it does look like something that could be easily missed.