2124 replies to this topic

[Nathant2131]

I found it very interesting that Myrmidon had ants flying, but not any of us. Are they still flying for you?

Edited by Nathant2131, May 17 2017 - 3:02 PM.

[akaant]

No luck today, but I did find a Larger Camponotus species male.

[Myrmidon]

I found it very interesting that Myrmidon had ants flying, but not any of us. Are they still flying for you?

 

Both of them from the colonies I was observing lasted until around 7 pm. I wasn't able to catch queens from either which probably means it was minor flights.

 

Funny enough, there must have been larger Camponotus flights today in the area because I was able to get 2 queens! Here are the new additions. I'm fairly certain they are of C. Pennsylvannicus but one is definitely all black while the other is more red in various parts; possibly C. chromaiodes.

 

 

 

 

 

Trying out the gallery feature on here... I may have directly linked these wrong but the links are still there!

Edited by Myrmidon, May 18 2017 - 6:20 AM.

[Cindy]

 

I found it very interesting that Myrmidon had ants flying, but not any of us. Are they still flying for you?

 

Both of them from the colonies I was observing lasted until around 7 pm. I wasn't able to catch queens from either which probably means it was minor flights.

 

Funny enough, there must have been larger Camponotus flights today in the area because I was able to get 2 queens! Here are the new additions. I'm fairly certain they are of C. Pennsylvannicus but one is definitely all black while the other is more red in various parts.

 

http://www.formicult...3_799_14310.jpg

 

http://images.formic...3_799_52556.jpg

 

http://images.formic...3_799_18901.jpg

 

Trying out the gallery feature on here... I may have directly linked these wrong but the links are still there!

 

Try clicking "My Media" and clicking on the pics you wanna share in the post. 

 

Edit: Also those are great finds! Sadly I didn't even see queen alates "peeping out" from my door frame today

Edited by Cindy, May 17 2017 - 5:16 PM.

[noebl1]

C. Pennsylvannicus is flying here right now... already found one in the house.  Just found a bunch outside.

[Cindy]

C. Pennsylvannicus is flying here right now... already found one in the house.  Just found a bunch outside.

I'm really borderline about going outside right now because 1. It's C. pennsylvanicus and 2. It's C. pennsylvanicus... I guess I will go and just check it out.

[Myrmidon]

C. Pennsylvannicus is flying here right now... already found one in the house.  Just found a bunch outside.

Haha, I literally opened my porch door and one flew in my face. Confirmed flights here!

[Cindy]

 

C. Pennsylvannicus is flying here right now... already found one in the house.  Just found a bunch outside.

Haha, I literally opened my porch door and one flew in my face. Confirmed flights here!

 

Oh god not the face

[noebl1]

Camponotus Myrmentoma flying as well.  

[Cindy]

Didn't find anything

[noebl1]

TIP 1:  C. pennsylvanicus... look down on low parts of walls, decks, etc, they usually don't climb a lot after they land.

 

TIP 2: Camponotus Myrmentoma... look *up*, especially on wooden railings.  They tend to land on a deck, and then move up.  Caught 3 Camponotus Myrmentoma so far, lost 2.  Every one on the deck.

 

FYI, so far this looks like a small flight as not seeing thousands... but they are all still flying this second.

[Cindy]

I did find a trail of C. pennsylvanicus going up my storm drain so there's something...

[noebl1]

I'm done for the night as wiped out.  Flights seem to be slowing a bit as seeing less C. pennsylvanicus alates.  Unless they are affected but the drought, I still do not believe this was one of the bigger flights that can happen for several hours.  I saw more female alates than males tonight as well.

 

Loads of stuff mating tonight; sorta creepy out there. Looks like something similar to a robber fly *everywhere* right now, especially attracted to lights.

[akaant]

No such luck here. Till tomorrow then.

[Myrmidon]

I'm ending my night here as well. I saw Myrmentoma but didn't find any queens to catch. I ended up with 3 dealates and 2 still winged for C. pennsylvanicus. 1 dealate for C. chromaiodes. All are in test tube setups. I'll probably create a journal tomorrow! 

 

These guys will need a heat source to keep them at their preferred temp right? 

Edited by Myrmidon, May 18 2017 - 7:49 AM.

[Nathant2131]

Interesting, so they started flying at night. I wasn't out that late so not sure if anything flew here.

Edited by Nathant2131, May 18 2017 - 2:43 AM.

[noebl1]

Interesting, so they started flying at night. I wasn't out that late so not sure if anything flew here.

 

I happened to get lucky as had the lights on to bring out the trash and noticed them on the deck.   They are pretty terrible fliers as you'd hear the buzz of them flying, a noise as they hit the siding of the house, then you'd see them

 

I was outside until 7pm, and there were none at that point.

Edited by noebl1, May 18 2017 - 5:08 AM.

[zkublin]

As far as I could tell there was nothing flying closer to the city.  Couldn't find anything in Somerville, Allston or JP.  Fingers crossed for today.

[Alabama Anter]

 

I found it very interesting that Myrmidon had ants flying, but not any of us. Are they still flying for you?

 

Both of them from the colonies I was observing lasted until around 7 pm. I wasn't able to catch queens from either which probably means it was minor flights.

 

Funny enough, there must have been larger Camponotus flights today in the area because I was able to get 2 queens! Here are the new additions. I'm fairly certain they are of C. Pennsylvannicus but one is definitely all black while the other is more red in various parts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trying out the gallery feature on here... I may have directly linked these wrong but the links are still there!

 

The reddish queen is a Camponotus chromaiodes.

[noebl1]

As far as I could tell there was nothing flying closer to the city.  Couldn't find anything in Somerville, Allston or JP.  Fingers crossed for today.

 

I do wonder if local weather conditions can make small-clustered flights occur, and that makes the difference when the larger flights occur when conditions in a region are more uniform.  I didn't see anything flying while the winds yesterday were gusting pretty heavily.  Last night when I went out, it was hot and humid, and it was dead-calm winds wise.  I also have observed Camponotus for sure flying in late afternoons, so night is not a required for flight.  Obviously local conditions were right as quite a few things mating last night.  The grey tree frogs were also in full swing, probably loudest all season.  Several types of insects were quite busy as well.

 

Weather conditions last night during flight at 9pm:

 

74.7F

58% humidity

Barometer 29.83

No wind

Rain: 1.36" approx 48 hours prior

 

Observation #2:  When temps dropped to 72 around 10:10pm, flights seemed to tail off.  Not sure if time, temp, or other reasons caused flights to tail off.