10 replies to this topic

[rookie]

1. Location of collection: Park.

2. Date of collection: 4/7/17
3. Habitat of collection: Rocky Hillside. Predominantly mixed Sweetgum, Buckeye, Oak and Eastern Hemlocks. Found beneath a rock with seven workers.
4. Length: 12 millimeters
5. Coloration, hue, pattern and texture: Black head and thorax. Orange-ish red abdomen with some light black horizontal striping. Legs orange-ish red. Still has wings. Visible mandibles
6. Distinguishing characteristics: relatively planar mandibles, face with hairs. Rather thin legs compared to overall size.
7. Anything else distinctive: When captured, workers immediately flocked to queen. Workers had slight variations in head size, didn't appear enough to be different castes.
8. Nest description: Found beneath a rock. Did not appear to be much of a nest, almost seemed like the group was just roving around.
9 . Post the clearest pictures possible of the top, side, and face of the ant in question, and if possible, their nest and the habitat they were collected in.

 

Sorry for the awful picture quality. I get a little nervous I'm going to lose my ants if I spend too long photographing.

 

 

 

[Phoenix]

[Camponotus] Queen, I presume.

[Cindy]

Camponotus for sure.

 

May be Camponotus Americanus

Edited by Cindy, April 7 2017 - 11:05 AM.

[Nathant2131]

Camponotus sp.

[Bracchymyrmex]

My wager would be Camponotus Americanus. http://www.antwiki.o...otus_americanus

[Runner12]

Yeah,C. americanus.

Good chance she isn't fertile though based on your description. Can you show some pics of the workers?

Edited by Runner12, April 7 2017 - 2:17 PM.

[noebl1]

If she was in the nest, agree with other's she's probably not fertile.  In all cases I've seen camponotus tend to drop their wings very quickly after they fly, so even more evidence probably not fertile and should put her back.  

 

Also FWIW, I was impatient last year at this time as well and found a C. americanus starter colony (queen plus five workers.)  Got them and eggs into a test tube (as one of the workers had the eggs), they did absolutely terrible and I ended up regretting not leaving them alone.  I ended up giving the ants to a more experienced member as they were doing horrible.   If you can wait a few more weeks, camponotus fly in *huge* numbers usually during their nuptials and hard to miss.  You'll have better luck then.

Edited by noebl1, April 7 2017 - 2:54 PM.

[rookie]

I'll try to get some pictures to y'all in the next few days.

 

So when I found her, she didn't seem to be part of a nest at all. I dug around in the area a bit and didn't find anything else really. It was just her and a few workers walking around underneath the rock. I guess I figured they would be potentially the initial workers that she hatched before maybe moving to a different site? It is a bit early compared to what I've read for them to fly, but also the weather around here's been absolutely absurd for the past month (ranging between 20F and 90F) and maybe she flew early?

 

I guess I'm just confused on why she'd have a bunch of random non-flighted workers walking around with her not near a major nest.

 

 

Thanks for your help, everybody!

[Runner12]

Camponotus will set up a lot of satellite nests around the primary nest

Did you catch any of the workers that were with her? It's possible she is mated, but if the workers arent nanitics, can almost guarantee she's not.

[Batspiderfish]

Are the measurements correct? Or can we please get a view of the front of the head?

 

I forgot how small this species can be.

Edited by Batspiderfish, April 9 2017 - 7:34 AM.

[Alabama Anter]

I'm pretty sure this was a satellite nest if there was no brood found