9 replies to this topic

[Nathant2131]

These have probably been brought up a few times already on Formiculture, but since I noticed many new ant keepers have basically no knowledge on IDing ants or (more importantly) about their anatomy. I'll just bump these links up.

 

The Ant Anatomy

 

The Ant anatomy is very confusing at first, but I suggest getting a few books on ants, they usually provide the more basic terms to work your way up to getting to know the complete ant anatomy:

 

Ants of North America: A Guide to the Genera Gives a complete key to the Genera. I highly suggest bringing this to the field.

 

A Field Guide to the Ants of New England Describes the ants of New England and how to ID them. Can still be very useful for learning the anatomy if you are not in New England.

 

 

 

The first book I described already has a complete guide, but here are some keys. They use dichotomous keys, which can be fairly confusing to use at first but easy to get the hang of. Once you find the Subfamily, it gives a link to their genera. Once you find the genera, it gives a link to the species keys. AntWiki is a great tool for IDing.

 

Key to the Subfamilies of North America

Edited by Nathant2131, February 18 2017 - 7:16 AM.

[Martialis]

I feel like this should be pinned.

[Alabama Anter]

I feel like this should be pinned.

Na, I feel like most beginners will run into all these sites. That's what happened to me.

[dspdrew]

I feel like this should be pinned.

 
It's all here (http://www.formicult...of-handy-links/) under the "Anting, IDing and Keys" section.

[Nathant2131]

I knew all this stuff was somewhere, especially the handy links post, but I thought I would bring this up since it seemed obvious lots of people were not noticing it, especially since lots of new members have been joining as of late, and some even asked what they should do for IDing. AntWiki is somewhat confusing when it comes to browsing as well, mostly to the new hobbyists so I thought it would be helpful to locate all links in this one post for the sake of simplicity. Not to be immodest or anything, but I think this should be pinned and will help lots of new keepers, but I really don't mind if it isn't. Chances are it will still help quite a few regardless.

Edited by Nathant2131, February 18 2017 - 11:58 AM.

[gcsnelling]

 

I feel like this should be pinned.

Na, I feel like most beginners will run into all these sites. That's what happened to me.

 

You are assuming that many new keepers have the motivation to actually study.

[Nathant2131]

I feel like this should be pinned.

Na, I feel like most beginners will run into all these sites. That's what happened to me.

You are assuming that many new keepers have the motivation to actually study.

Exactly. A new keeper most likely is still debating on whether they will truly accept this as a hobby, therefore they will not devote a large amount of time into research.

[dspdrew]

I knew all this stuff was somewhere, especially the handy links post, but I thought I would bring this up since it seemed obvious lots of people were not noticing it, especially since lots of new members have been joining as of late, and some even asked what they should do for IDing. AntWiki is somewhat confusing when it comes to browsing as well, mostly to the new hobbyists so I thought it would be helpful to locate all links in this one post for the sake of simplicity. Not to be immodest or anything, but I think this should be pinned and will help lots of new keepers, but I really don't mind if it isn't. Chances are it will still help quite a few regardless.

 

There's no need to pin topics when there are already pinned topics with the same information plus a whole lot more.

 

What's needed more than anything is for people to actually read the pinned topics that already exist.

 

Actually, we just need people to read... period.

[Martialis]

I knew all this stuff was somewhere, especially the handy links post, but I thought I would bring this up since it seemed obvious lots of people were not noticing it, especially since lots of new members have been joining as of late, and some even asked what they should do for IDing. AntWiki is somewhat confusing when it comes to browsing as well, mostly to the new hobbyists so I thought it would be helpful to locate all links in this one post for the sake of simplicity. Not to be immodest or anything, but I think this should be pinned and will help lots of new keepers, but I really don't mind if it isn't. Chances are it will still help quite a few regardless.

 
There's no need to pin topics when there are already pinned topics with the same information plus a whole lot more.
 
What's needed more than anything is for people to actually read the pinned topics that already exist.
 
Actually, we just need people to read... period.

 
Agreed.
 
I honestly did not know these were in the handy links section to be honest. I have visited that topic many times, though.

[Alabama Anter]

 

I knew all this stuff was somewhere, especially the handy links post, but I thought I would bring this up since it seemed obvious lots of people were not noticing it, especially since lots of new members have been joining as of late, and some even asked what they should do for IDing. AntWiki is somewhat confusing when it comes to browsing as well, mostly to the new hobbyists so I thought it would be helpful to locate all links in this one post for the sake of simplicity. Not to be immodest or anything, but I think this should be pinned and will help lots of new keepers, but I really don't mind if it isn't. Chances are it will still help quite a few regardless.

 

There's no need to pin topics when there are already pinned topics with the same information plus a whole lot more.

 

What's needed more than anything is for people to actually read the pinned topics that already exist.

 

Actually, we just need people to read... period.

 

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