18 replies to this topic

[Vasquez]

1. Location of collection:  Serbia - Europe.

2. Date of collection:  16- September - 2016

3. Habitat of collection:  Colony near wall and canal (pretty moister and close to a firewood)

4. Length (from head to gaster): Queen - 6.5mms Worker: Unknown

5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: A bit larger gaster then rest of the body, has a yellow marks on gaster. Has visible waist.

6. Distinguishing characteristics: /

 

7. Distinguishing behavior: Very slow, tends to form a circle with her body, like she's sleeping. 

8. Nest description: It had many holes in the ground, around 30-40 workers and two queens. One died while exctracting.

[Images of ant]
 

 

 

That's the best image I could take. The others are blury.

 

Also the best match (visually, for me) was: 

 

http://www.world-of-...psis-fugax.html

 

But I am an amateur and would like to be sure

 

Thanks in advance

[Batspiderfish]

Kind of look like a Tetramorium sp. from here. Mature queens need workers to survive.

[Vasquez]

Yeah, got her 4 workers. Is it enough?
I hope it starts laying eggs soon, I don't want it to die

Also, tell me if she needs more workers, I might find from her colony. 

[benjiwuf]

hey bat, how can you tell the difference so well between Solenopsis fugax and Tetramorium species? the gaster on this one looks way to large (proportionally) for me to think it would be Tetramorium. just looking for tips ^^

[Batspiderfish]

6.5mm is way closer to Tetramorium than to a Solenopsis thief ant.

 

4 workers is not a lot. Since you have the queen, gather as many as possible or release them back to the nest.

Edited by Batspiderfish, September 16 2016 - 10:19 AM.

[Enderz]

I have a question. Can you find these "sidewalk ants" in Southern CA? If you can what time of year do their queens fly? I am really hoping to catch one soon!

[Vasquez]

Here are some workers that came out to explore. 
I am going to get more workers today, 3 left. I have no idea where 1 gone.

--

 

I hope these pics can help you identify. 

Edited by Vasquez, September 17 2016 - 3:21 AM.

[Batspiderfish]

Wait, do these workers actually hang out with the queen? Because they don't look like the same species or genus. These are Myrmica, I think.

[Vasquez]

The heck..

They do hang around, I think they carried one egg and caring for it.

They were in the nest I found queen, and it were 2 queens actually. I returned one. But they were same.

[Batspiderfish]

I mean do they groom the queen? I think it's more likely that two Tetramorium queens that recently flew made a claustral cell under the same rock as a Myrmica colony. What is the measurement of the workers?

Edited by Batspiderfish, September 17 2016 - 5:18 AM.

[Vasquez]

That might be it, since they're not really tending the queen.

So, the Queen isn't that species? What should I do with her? I just got her more workers but all they do is eat and care for one newborn (that I also took from the old nest).

 

So, um...?

 

For the ant measures I'll take time to do it tomorrow since I'd really not like to kill one in order to measure him properly xD.

[Batspiderfish]

You don't have to kill them. The queen can go into a test tube setup.

[Vasquez]

Okay, so the workers weren't aggressive towards a queen, should I put them together in a test tube in a hope that they'll accept her as queen even tho diff species? 
Because I am sceptic about her being the young queen, and if mature it'll die soon.

[Canadian anter]

Separate them, Even if the queen gets accepted, they might eat the brood

[Batspiderfish]

Putting her back is still an option.

[Vasquez]

I returned one queen, so its not total damage. 
Anyway, she spent 1 full day in dark and didn't lay any eggs. I'll just let her be, if she starves then it was mature. If not, the brood should come out soon enough.

[Batspiderfish]

The Tetramorium in North America usually fly in the early summer, but most queens that  fly in Autumn will wait  for spring time before they begin laying. If in doubt, you can offer her tiny specs of sugary liquid or insect protein, but in the latter case you need to be able to clean up after her without majorly disturbing her. She might appreciate a tiny seed -- the workers do, but I can't say for sure whether a lone queen will eat it.

Edited by Batspiderfish, September 18 2016 - 6:14 AM.

[dspdrew]

I have a question. Can you find these "sidewalk ants" in Southern CA? If you can what time of year do their queens fly? I am really hoping to catch one soon!

 

You likely aren't going to find any queens on sidewalks of Southern California. Most places with sidewalks have had all their native ants killed off by Argentine ants. In Southern California, you need to go out to the wilderness to find queens.

[Vasquez]

Update: 
The Queen was offered a very tiny bit of jam (Since I didn't get a hand on honey today) - and didn't eat a thing. 

It might be that jam isn't really what she likes, so I'll try honey and report back.