240 replies to this topic

[Jadeninja9]

I just read the article that was put into circulation earlier on in this thread.

http://www.bio.fsu.e...ions/1987-3.pdf

I found something really interesting: “Temperature almost certainly plays a role in the length of the estivation period 1 to 2 months in ohio, 7 to 8 months Florida.” This means that depending on the climate where you live, your ants will be active for more of the year or for less.

For the bay, I think it is late September to march, when the colonies around me stop foraging, I'll know for sure. Another way people tell is that when they are preparing for estavation(? Idk how to spell), the foragers and all workers are almost always at least semi-repletes.

The article talks all about them. Apparently they’re not actually repletes, since they store fat as opposed to ordinary repletes who don’t.

[YsTheAnt]

Yeah, but you can still color them via food coloring in food, they look all the same except smaller than Myrmecocystus.

Edited by YsTheAnt, February 12 2018 - 8:38 PM.

[Bracchymyrmex]

So it's been exactly a year more or less since I started this thread, and it appears that there's going to be a recreation of last year's events. Next Tuesday and Wednesday here in Philly we're expecting 70's and I'm optimistic that there will be a Prenolepis flight. Fingers crossed.

[Jadeninja9]

So it's been exactly a year more or less since I started this thread, and it appears that there's going to be a recreation of last year's events. Next Tuesday and Wednesday here in Philly we're expecting 70's and I'm optimistic that there will be a Prenolepis flight. Fingers crossed.

That's sick dude. Good luck! Btw, what happened to all the queens you caught last year?

Edited by Jadeninja9, February 16 2018 - 7:14 PM.

[Bracchymyrmex]

 

So it's been exactly a year more or less since I started this thread, and it appears that there's going to be a recreation of last year's events. Next Tuesday and Wednesday here in Philly we're expecting 70's and I'm optimistic that there will be a Prenolepis flight. Fingers crossed.

That's sick dude. Good luck! Btw, what happened to all the queens you caught last year?

 

 

Sold them all.

[Jadeninja9]

 

 

So it's been exactly a year more or less since I started this thread, and it appears that there's going to be a recreation of last year's events. Next Tuesday and Wednesday here in Philly we're expecting 70's and I'm optimistic that there will be a Prenolepis flight. Fingers crossed.

That's sick dude. Good luck! Btw, what happened to all the queens you caught last year?

 

 

Sold them all.

 

Oh wow. Are you going to keep any colonies this year?

[Jadeninja9]

It's been 20 days since I caught my queens and they haven't laid eggs yet.

Edited by Jadeninja9, February 21 2018 - 12:25 PM.

[Derpy]

It's been 20 days since I caught my queens and they haven't laid eggs yet.

Same, mines haven’t laid either.

[ColKurtz]

I’m in Northern New Jersey and I’ve not seen anything yet. Not even seeing any workers up here but it’s possible they just aren’t in my area I guess. This certainly is a nice day for it but we were covered in snow until Monday when it all Melted. Perhaps the time between being covered in a few inches of snow and today was just to soon as I don’t know

[Bracchymyrmex]

Was expecting a bigger flight too. Only caught 3 queens today.

[Zmagz]

I’m in Northern New Jersey and I’ve not seen anything yet. Not even seeing any workers up here but it’s possible they just aren’t in my area I guess. This certainly is a nice day for it but we were covered in snow until Monday when it all Melted. Perhaps the time between being covered in a few inches of snow and today was just to soon as I don’t know

I'm in new jersey as well, and I looked at a prenoplis imparis nest in my backyard around 3 o'clock and I saw a ton of workers outside but no alates. I also checked multiple times throughout the day for alates. I'm guessing they just decided not to fly today. I did hear that someone in south jersey though caught a queen, I'm not sure if that's true of not though.

[ColKurtz]

I’m in Northern New Jersey and I’ve not seen anything yet. Not even seeing any workers up here but it’s possible they just aren’t in my area I guess. This certainly is a nice day for it but we were covered in snow until Monday when it all Melted. Perhaps the time between being covered in a few inches of snow and today was just to soon as I don’t know

I'm in new jersey as well, and I looked at a prenoplis imparis nest in my backyard around 3 o'clock and I saw a ton of workers outside but no alates. I also checked multiple times throughout the day for alates. I'm guessing they just decided not to fly today. I did hear that someone in south jersey though caught a queen, I'm not sure if that's true of not though.

Thanks so much for letting me know. In desperation, We went out to a park nearby us that has lots of trees but spread out and lots of moss growing on the ground near the roots. We found a couple of colonies with workers running around that looked like them. We also observed a fair number of clumsily flying insects that stayed between ground level and about 4 feet in the air. I took them for males, given the size. We captured one small flying insect, but I cannot determine if it is even a an ant. On first glance, it doesn’t look like one. Outside of one of the colonies, we found some sort of female. It appeared to me to be a parasitic Lasius, in a great deal of distress. I need to make further observation.

[CamponotusLover]

As for New Jersey, their were many males today, and the workers, now that the first batch of good weather has arrived, today, as I saw, expanding their nest entrances, so for the next 70 degree-ish day, I am assuming their will be a flight, because the nest holes will be large enough to start sending alates out. Sadly too much rain and cold most of the rest of the week.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Today's unseasonably warm high was 77 F so naturally P. imparis was out flying. It wasn't that big of a flight though but I did manage to catch a queen. I'm in souther NJ for those of you wondering, Camden County specifically. A friend of mine in Ocean County also caught a queen of this species today.

 

Out in California I'm happy to add that someone finally got decent pictures of the form of "this species" that has totally black queens. Prior to this the only evidence it existed was a video of a P. imparis flight where the more typical color form was flying but mixed in were black queens which were not in the best focus. Even looking at the image I've linked to above, my first thought was Lasius alienus or one of the other Lasius in the niger group we rarely hear about. The eyes on the head are completely wrong of course, so I messaged James Trager and asked him if I'm crazy. He identified it as a P. imparis queen, and rekindled my belief that they are multiple species.

 

There had been a study done which looked at the male genitalia in the species to see if there was anything different. The idea being if a square peg can't fit in a round hole then the flow of genetics can't be transferred and is one of many indicators that multiple species exist. This would explain why some P. imparis queens are noticeably larger and smaller than one another, and I've even come across a colony that had a queen which was totally blond in color. Workers to some nests seem are be small and pale, often nesting in sand, while others are larger and darker forming long foraging lines that reach up into the trees. The study concluded that because the reproductive parts of the males were all identical that Prenolepis imparis is just one species with lots of variation to it; which may well be the case. But when I mentioned this to Dr. Trager he told me he's not convinced. In fact when he was organizing the genus Formica (the largest genus in the U.S. and Canada with 100 species in it) he found the reproductive parts of the males to lots of species looked identical to one another. 

 

I'm attempting to locate the study I'm thinking of, as to not cite it is rather sloppy and I'm forgetting if they did any DNA testing which would certainly be another nail in the multiple species theory. But then I'd have to ask how large their sample size was. To my knowledge the form with black queens is a very recent discovery only in the last ~10 years or so.

 

As always though, more studying is needed.

[Jadeninja9]

Brian Fisher just sent me the email of a Ph.D. Student from Berkeley who specifically studies Prenolepis imparis ants. I asked her about the egg-laying behavior of the queens since I couldn't find a consistent answer online. Hopefully, she gets back to me so we can further our understanding of this species.

[Jadeninja9]

Today's unseasonably warm high was 77 F so naturally P. imparis was out flying. It wasn't that big of a flight though but I did manage to catch a queen. I'm in souther NJ for those of you wondering, Camden County specifically. A friend of mine in Ocean County also caught a queen of this species today.

 

Out in California I'm happy to add that someone finally got decent pictures of the form of "this species" that has totally black queens. Prior to this the only evidence it existed was a video of a P. imparis flight where the more typical color form was flying but mixed in were black queens which were not in the best focus. Even looking at the image I've linked to above, my first thought was Lasius alienus or one of the other Lasius in the niger group we rarely hear about. The eyes on the head are completely wrong of course, so I messaged James Trager and asked him if I'm crazy. He identified it as a P. imparis queen, and rekindled my belief that they are multiple species.

 

There had been a study done which looked at the male genitalia in the species to see if there was anything different. The idea being if a square peg can't fit in a round hole then the flow of genetics can't be transferred and is one of many indicators that multiple species exist. This would explain why some P. imparis queens are noticeably larger and smaller than one another, and I've even come across a colony that had a queen which was totally blond in color. Workers to some nests seem are be small and pale, often nesting in sand, while others are larger and darker forming long foraging lines that reach up into the trees. The study concluded that because the reproductive parts of the males were all identical that Prenolepis imparis is just one species with lots of variation to it; which may well be the case. But when I mentioned this to Dr. Trager he told me he's not convinced. In fact when he was organizing the genus Formica (the largest genus in the U.S. and Canada with 100 species in it) he found the reproductive parts of the males to lots of species looked identical to one another. 

 

I'm attempting to locate the study I'm thinking of, as to not cite it is rather sloppy and I'm forgetting if they did any DNA testing which would certainly be another nail in the multiple species theory. But then I'd have to ask how large their sample size was. To my knowledge the form with black queens is a very recent discovery only in the last ~10 years or so.

 

As always though, more studying is needed.

My Prenolepis imparis queens I caught look exactly like that and are from the same area where that dude caught his! I caught mine just on the other side of the bay. The only queens I found were black. I found two dead ones and I will be sending them to the Academy of Science where Brian. L. Fisher works at so they can study the two dead queen specimens. I had my suspicions that maybe there could be a subspecies and this excites me.

Edited by Jadeninja9, February 22 2018 - 2:53 PM.

[YsTheAnt]

Did you get a reply from the person that studies P. Imparis?

[Jadeninja9]

Did you get a reply from the person that studies P. Imparis?

Nope not yet. They’re probably busy.

[Jadeninja9]

The Prenolepis imparis Ph.D. Student just got back to me. Here’s what she said:

“I don't think I'm the best person to ask about this. I've had my queens in lab for awhile trying to get them to lay a second clutch. I caught some last year and they successfully created a first brood of ~10 workers, but since then she hasn't laid anymore eggs. She laid the eggs right away and that was it. I was told to put them in a cold place. I put my queens outside in my garage, but I've also heard the fridge should be fine.”

Looks like we’re still in the dark lol

[YsTheAnt]

Darn