10 replies to this topic

[Origional_Username]

Hello every one, I have found my first (and only) Queen so far.

Found this ant on the sidewalk. At first I thought it was male because of various shapes it had but it has been almost a week and a half in a test tube and its still alive and has 20+ eggs. The eggs are the size of a pinhead and the same white as my cotton so I do not know how many for sure. Now when I caught this ant I was specifically hunting for Pogonomyrmex rugosus as identified here http://www.formicult...endale-arizona/. Lots of those nests within a reasonable distance from collections site. There is at least one other known but as of yet identified ant species nearby that I could be confusing this with and I say that because I did not expect this queen to have the red head or slender body. If I had to guess then a different Pogonomyrmex or the local fire ant. The unknown workers are mostly red with black gasters, two petiole nodes, and would be in the medium to large size range.

 

1. Location of collection:  Sidewalk in Glendale,AZ
2. Date of collection:  June 29 late morning, it rained the previous night
3. Habitat of collection: N/A
4. Length (from head to gaster): 5 to 8 MM (poor quality ruler)
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: the majority of the ant is a dark brownish color, noticeably red head and some slight red in the gaster
6. Distinguishing characteristics: Bite and sting, 2 petiole nodes
7. Anything else distinctive: Still has wings, long slender body, smallish head, gaster is more long than fat and round. The mandibles are smaller/weaker looking than I would have expected if this is a P. rugosus
8. Nest description: N/A

 

Behavioral note: Queen has been messing with the cotton on both sides of the tube quite a bit. At first worried it was trying to escape but checking in on it later it seems to be using the cotton like a substrate and forming it, some of the eggs are in these formations. You can almost see a few in the picture.

 

picture taken with a camera phone and was the only one to turn out in the set, will take more if needed.

 

[edit] Three more pictures.

 

 

Thanks in advanced for any help provided.

Edited by Origional_Username, July 14 2016 - 8:36 AM.

[Batspiderfish]

Looks like Solenopsis invicta from here. Can we get more pictures?

[Origional_Username]

Hello again Batspiderfish, posted some more pictures for you.

 

would it really be S. Invicta? When I was doing some initial research to get into hobby I remember stumbling upon something that AZ has taken steps to prevent the spread of S. invicta here. Could have been an old article or something I will try to track it down if I can. There is a native fire ant of S. xyloni.

 

Hope the new pictures help and again any help is appreciated.

[Origional_Username]

Hey, so I found that article, is it useful I do not know: http://www.invasives...mals/rifa.shtml

 

Within this article there is a map of surveys done throughout the years: http://pest.ceris.pu...hp?code=ISASAZA

 

Not to dispute your ID I am just trying to wrap my head around this as I am still learning the ropes. S. invicta sounds quite scary

[Batspiderfish]

Solenopsis invicta is present from Florida to California, although its native competator, Solenopsis xyloni, still exists in the west. From what I've seen, Solenopsis xyloni is more consistent in its coloration, while Solenopsis invicta has all sorts of color forms, such as a light head and brown mesonotum and gaster.

 

A second opinion would be great!

Edited by Batspiderfish, July 14 2016 - 12:25 PM.

[Origional_Username]

Hello, there was a small amount of rain yesterday so I went out looking for more queens. I have found one more of this ant with a slightly more interesting head coloration, other than that it looks exactly the same. Found it walking across the sidewalk deep in suburbia at about 8:30AM temp somewhere in the 80's. wundermap's precipitation values for the area were 0.16, and 0.11  Its not ideal but hopefully more rain in the coming days

 

Also found two other ants that I highly expect are male cause their absolutely tiny heads in comparison to the rest of their bodies. Just in case they get a test tube for a week and I can see what happens Do not know the species.

 

Question, for ant ID threads do I make separate threads for each additional ant I find that are not on the same collection day? if I caught many ants in the same day I can see putting into one large post. I have the new identical to original postings ant so it seems sorta relevant here but the other two I have no clue.

 

Thanks everybody

[kellakk]

I would agree with S. invicta.  As for your other question, the choice is up to you. In this case, if they're very similar, I would just add the ID request to this thread.

[Origional_Username]

I would like to thank both of you Batspiderfish and Kellakk for being awesome, I appreciate the help.

[gcsnelling]

Looks awful dark to be S. invicta, lets get a shot of the antenna. There are scattered populations of a dark S. xyloni in Az.

[Origional_Username]

Looks awful dark to be S. invicta, lets get a shot of the antenna. There are scattered populations of a dark S. xyloni in Az.

 

I am intrigued but I doubt I can get a good enough picture of the antenna. As for the coloring, some darkness may be present because of the quality of my picture taking. Camera phone and a flashlight against a white piece of paper in a ok lite room selecting the best of twenty. If you were to provide some sort of checklist I could look under a magnifying glass and report the findings. Or maybe picture taking/budget equipment tips.

[kellakk]

Looks awful dark to be S. invicta, lets get a shot of the antenna. There are scattered populations of a dark S. xyloni in Az.

 

Is it really too dark? I thought I'd seen S. invicta that dark before, but maybe they were actually invicta x richteri hybrids.