9 replies to this topic

[jasond1979]

I'm going by workers on this one.   I think the workers are about half and inch long, isn't that the largest in California?  Man I love that species talk about a perfect display in A Fortress.

 

Jason

[kudofo]

As far as I know yes they are. Nuptial flights won't be till july of next year though (Or around that time I'm no expert)

[gcsnelling]

Some of the Camponotus are pretty close if not larger.

[Salmon]

They sure seem to be a skinny, scrawny species, you sure Pogonomyrmex and Camponotus aren't bulkier?

[gcsnelling]

They are definitely bulkier, however large workers of Camponotus easily larger, Novomessor are definitely under 1/2 inch.

[dspdrew]

Yeah, some Camponotus majors are way larger than Novomessor.

 

This is the largest I have come across.

 

[kudofo]

Whoa... that's awesome.

[Vendayn]

Yeah, I've seen Camponotus majors the size of bees.

 

My Pogonomyrmex rugosus I got from Drew are really big, bigger than any other Pogonomyrmex I've personally encountered. The queen is huge compared to other Pogonomyrmex queens I've found. The local Pogonomyrmex californicus queens are tiny compared to my Pogonomyrmex rugosus queen. And some of the workers (even though the colony is still pretty young) are bigger than Pogonomyrmex californicus workers I've seen. Not sure if I'll see bigger workers or not, but they are already pretty large. Though the large Camponotus still out-size them by far. And dunno how Pogonomyrmex rugosus compare to Novomessor cockerelli. I guess Novomessor cockerelli are really big, but never seen one in person to get an idea of size. Pictures/videos and just saying how many millimeters it is doesn't really help me visualize how big they are compared to other ants. Unless the picture actually has workers compared side by side with other workers, to easily compare the difference.

[dspdrew]

My P. rugosus colony's workers didn't max out in size until it was about two years old.

[Vendayn]

My P. rugosus colony's workers didn't max out in size until it was about two years old.

Wow, they are going to be really big then! Some of the workers in my colony are already quite big.

 

That is actually a long time though to max out in size. I have had other colonies and workers were full size in months, even the Pogonomyrmex californicus I had maxed out in size in about six months.