9 replies to this topic

[Cole]

Hello, I'm new to this hobby and after not having much luck finding a queen I managed to find this baby while vacationing with my family. I found two others but unfortunately I killed them while digging them up I would like to know the species if possible.

 

1.) Location of collection: Camp ground.

2.) Date of collection: May 12, 2014

3.) Habitat of collection: Pine/Oak forest.

4.) Length: 17mm

5.) Coloration: Black head. Top of thorax is shiny black, bottom is brown. Brown gaster that fades into black.

 

Forgive the lack of detail in the pictures. I really don't have a proper lense for close up shots. I also made the mistake of buying plastic test tubes, I'll never do that again, they scratch so easily. If you look closely you can see her one single egg!

 

 

 

 

[dspdrew]

First of all, nice ID thread; it's nice to see so much info. Honestly, that looks like the same species of Camponotus I have found a whole bunch of. Tell me if the one in this ID thread of mine (http://forum.formicu...y-ca-4-24-2014/) looks like it, since I can't see yours with a whole lot of detail. Here's another non-microscope picture of mine. Keep in mind, of all of these queens, the gasters have varying amounts of orange and black. Also, as it gets bloated, that changes the coloring and pattern too.

 

 

I'm certainly no expert, but I have been learning to ID ants in California for a while now, especially Camponotus.

 

I have been trying to figure this one out for some time now (assuming yours is the same species as mine). Every time I key it or associated workers, they come out to C. vicinus. I know that C. vicinus can range in color to that similar to C. semitestaceus (like this queen), all the way to completely black, so it is possible. I just feel like C. vicinus with this coloring would not be as abundant as these queens have been in the areas I have found them. Dr James C. Trager suggested that it could be C. sansabeanus, which I have also arrived at while keying it out sometimes too, but the scapes are just so much longer than they should be for that species. So, if your queen IS the same species as mine, I don't think you're gonna be getting a proper ID on it any time soon. So many of these ground nesting Camponotus here in CA are just so hard to tell apart.

 

BTW, did you find this one wandering, or did you dig it up? And yeah, plastic test tubes are horrible haha.

[Cole]

They look the same to me all except for coloration. Yours looks to be more yellowish where mine has more of a mahogany brown coloration. I think it could be C. vicinus because the images of workers I've seen look just like the workers I saw scurrying all over my campground. Black heads, red bodies, black butts. The major worker you showed in your ID thread doesn't look like the majors I saw--at least as far as coloration goes. They could be the same though if the coloration varies widely like you said.

 

I did dig this one up. Her chamber was only like five feet away from our camping spot. I think we picked a good time to go on vacation because another species of ant was having their mating flight. As soon as we pulled into the camp ground I saw winged ants all over the ground. Many of them were being killed and dragged off by a nest of formica ants nearby. I found some queens (I think) and I'll post an ID thread later. I actually dug up one newly dug chamber that had three queens inside of it! So I guess they're one of those species that can have multiple queens in a colony.

 

e: If you check out this page: http://www.discoverl...ponotus vicinus all of the ants I saw looked similar to this. Even the one male I found. If you look at the first queen there it looks just like the one I found except her gaster is much more bloated.

Edited by Cole, May 19 2014 - 6:21 AM.

[dspdrew]

Oh okay, then yeah, I would say it's C. vicinus. It looked a lot more orangish in your pictures. Does it have that red portion on the back of the thorax, I notice all of my C. vicinus, and the one in that picture have that? You didn't happen to get a picture of the founding chamber before digging it up did you?

[Cole]

It has a brownish-red portion at the back of the thorax. Kind of like cherry wood or mahogany I guess. It looks just like the thorax on that queen from the page I linked. I didn't get a picture of the founding chamber I dug this one out of but I did take a picture of another founding chamber that looks just like it. I dug this one up but didn't find anything.

 

 

e: Also, while I was checking her out this morning I saw she laid another egg! The test tube with the multiple queens also has eggs! I was worried they'd just end up killing each other.

Edited by Cole, May 19 2014 - 7:26 AM.

[dspdrew]

That's a great picture of a founding chamber, would you say it looks exactly like the one you dug up? Was the hole that round? I am planning to create some pages/guides for different species of ants here in CA with pictures of everything including their typical founding chambers.

[Cole]

Yep, looked just like it. The only difference is that the surrounding ground was more mossy. You're welcome to use this picture if you like.

[dspdrew]

Awesome. Thanks.

[Cole]

You're welcome. I'd love to see those guides when you finish.

[dspdrew]

Anything I create I post up on the site here. I haven't even started with this project yet so who knows when this will happen. Right now I am just trying to collect as much info and images as I can. The only thing I have done so far is took the mating chart and reformatted it and added tons of links to make it very convenient. You can find that linked on the forum index page just like a subforum.