29 replies to this topic

[SoySauce]

Hello there,

My son and I went collecting queens last night at the Chaney trail and caught a few different species. They were all found in trees. It was relatively warm that night at around 65 degrees. Can you please ID them? I apologize for the poor iPhone picture quality in advance.

This first one was huge at around 17mm and still had its wings:

[SoySauce]

[SoySauce]

Here's the next one. It's approximately 12mm long:

[SoySauce]

This is the last one. It may be the same as the first winged one. It's approximately 16mm long







Many thanks in advance!

[AnthonyP163]

The first seems like Camponotus Quericola

 

The second one seems like Camponotus Clarithorax

 

The third one looks like Camponotus Laevigatus

 

I'm not the best at ID, but if I'm wrong at least I'm pretty close. 

Edited by AnthonyP163, March 12 2017 - 7:47 AM.

[nurbs]

Looks like everyone is hitting up that spot. I was there last night again for about 2 hours after 8:30. It's nice for once because I live only 30 min away. Usually have to drive an hour or two. How long were you there?

 

Both the large black ones are C. quercicola, the smaller one is C. clarithorax. How many of the large black ones did you find?

[SoySauce]

So you cleaned the place out before we got there! We only found four but I think one died...or is sleeping from the stress maybe? We only live 30 mins away but only late at night when there's no traffic! Thanks for the ID's.

Edited by SoySauce, March 12 2017 - 10:47 AM.

[nurbs]

So you cleaned the place out before we got there! We only found four but I think one died...or is sleeping from the stress maybe? We only live 30 mins away but only late at night when there's no traffic! Thanks for the ID's.

 

I have been wanting C. quercicola for years. Always noticed their nests but never knew when they flew. Every year I would try and guess their flights at random spots and it was always a miss. But got lucky this year, and by chance found them when they flew at Chaney. Have a hunch there will be more C. quercicola flights coming in the next few weeks in the higher elevations up in the San Gabriel mountains when it warms up. 

 

C. quercicola are endemic to CA and only reside in and around oak trees, so relative to other ant species they are quite rare. Never reared this species to a mature colony, so I want to gather as many queens as possible. It may not be as easy as other Camponotus species since they prefer Oak trees and we are putting them in test tubes (might add some kind of substrate in the the test tube).

 

Two other species I want this year are N. cockerelli and C. ocreatus.

 

Anyway, grats! Take care of yours and keep us updated on how they do!    

 

EDIT: Will be heading up to the mountains near my home in the coming weeks when it warms up. If anything is found, will post the location here on the Queen Ant Spotting thread.

Edited by nurbs, March 12 2017 - 11:13 AM.

[SoySauce]

Thanks...congrats to you too! I wish I wasn't so much a newb that I could also appreciate how rare they are. I saw a lot of dead black drones on the trails the last few times I've been hiking through there but it seems like the queens we found were only limited to a small area. I'm grateful for the 3 that we have. Hopefully we both will be successful. Cheers!

Edited by SoySauce, March 12 2017 - 11:10 AM.

[nurbs]

Thanks...congrats to you too! I wish I wasn't so much a newb that I could also appreciate how rare they are. I saw a lot of dead black drones on the trails the last few times I've been hiking through there but it seems like the queens we found were only limited to a small area. I'm grateful for the 3 that we have. Hopefully we both will be successful. Cheers!

 

Like many ant species, there isn't a wealth of information on these gals. 

 

This paper is probably the most informative resource on the net regarding C. quercicola: 

http://antwiki.org/w..._et_al_1999.pdf

[dspdrew]

Wow you did pretty well. It's amazing how long you can stare at the oak trees for and then someone can come along behind you and just find one wandering in plain sight. It's all a matter of looking for them at the very moment one crawls out of whatever little crack or hole it was hiding in. I was there too last night, with nurbs. Funny you guys were there too. I had no idea.

[SoySauce]

Hey Drew, I don't think we actually got on the trail until after 10:30p so it looks like we got there after you guys already left. Yeah without my son, I don't think I would've spotted any. I actually put him on my shoulders to try to reach some but figured out using a stick to scare them to crawl down was a lot easier, especially easier on my back too!

[dspdrew]

Yeah Nurbs found a big long branch and tied a t-shirt to the end of it. We used it like a big paint brush to sweep the queens off the oak trees. We looked pretty silly, but we got two more queens.

[gcsnelling]

Back in the day, Chaney trail was one of my favorite places to hike. If I got paid by the mile I did up there I would never have to work again.

[nurbs]

Yeah Nurbs found a big long branch and tied a t-shirt to the end of it. We used it like a big paint brush to sweep the queens off the oak trees. We looked pretty silly, but we got two more queens.

 

The branch was crazy long. And it just occurred to me how funny this must have looked. 

 

 

Hey Drew, I don't think we actually got on the trail until after 10:30p so it looks like we got there after you guys already left. Yeah without my son, I don't think I would've spotted any. I actually put him on my shoulders to try to reach some but figured out using a stick to scare them to crawl down was a lot easier, especially easier on my back too!

 

While I love these ants and will do almost anything to get them, there is no way in heck Drew is getting on my shoulder. Or vice versa.

Edited by nurbs, March 12 2017 - 3:14 PM.

[dspdrew]

T-shirt stick strikes again!

 

 

 

Apparently nurbs just found another 150 C. quercicola queens. Lucky @%&#@%$.

[FSTP]

Whiskey Hotel Alpha Tango, Tango Hotel Echo, Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo. Did you say 150?

[thosaka]

T-shirt stick strikes again!

 

 

 

Apparently nurbs just found another 150 C. quercicola queens. Lucky @%&#@%$.

150?! What?~

[nurbs]

T-shirt stick strikes again!

 

 

 

Apparently nurbs just found another 150 C. quercicola queens. Lucky @%&#@%$.

 

Haha. Yeah, went again last night. That was an excellent run. Might make a guide on collecting C. quercicolas. Found more yesterday night than all the other previous nights combined.

 

Along with C. quercicola found more C. sansabeanus and two all black C. vicinus.

[SoySauce]

Nice Nurbs! Congrats! I may swing back tonight after I get back from down here in the Cleveland National Forest. My wife and kids already think I'm crazy anyway!