14 replies to this topic

[sgheaton]

Over the weekend I was outside doing yard work in Colorado. Is this even an ant? Was outside, saw wings, captured it regardless.

It's shiny and green, something I haven't heard used for to describe ants. I'm thinkin' it's a fly... but I don't know if flys have three segments? 

 

What is this?

 

 

 

And are these lasius?

 

The grand palace:

 

And for some reason my phone has things rotating upside down, but you can kinda see them:

Edited by sgheaton, April 10 2017 - 6:05 AM.

[Canadian anter]

The first one seems like an Osmia species. Yes, the second is Lasius

[sgheaton]

That's why I posted to you all! It's an odd.... looking thing. Had no idea where to begin. Perhaps Osmia? I'll look more into that. Thanks. 

 

Edit:
And thanks for the confirmation on the Lasius. 

Edited by sgheaton, April 10 2017 - 6:05 AM.

[Alabama Anter]

I think the first one is a sweat bee.

[sgheaton]

I don't think it's an ant. I'm not sure what it is. Bad part is because of this site, I now want to question anything that semi-resembles an ant queen. Last time I found the termite alate and it removed it's wings then died. This thing....was doin''' the whole leg clean on the wings that I kinda thought it was removing them. But it's so odd....green...and having a...yellow speck on it's face. I'm not sure what the green thing is. 

 

Edit:
Checked out google images of a sweat bee...I'd totally agree it is that. And now that I know it's a bee I'll be releasing it back to the wild..though it's one wing is all curly action..good luck lil' fella!
 

Edited by sgheaton, April 10 2017 - 7:02 AM.

[XZero38]

freeze it and feed it to your ants if it can't fly anymore. that's what i did when i found a bee on my drive way that had stung something.

[sgheaton]

Oooo...good idea. I didn't mean to go out and catch/kill a bee. I've got many flowers intended for bees. 

 

Edit:
And I'm not sure how to lock/disable posts. I'm fine with everyone saying that its a sweat bee and lasius. Mission completed. 
 

Edited by sgheaton, April 10 2017 - 9:14 AM.

[gcsnelling]

Wow, someone that finally posted images in the body of a message, good job. The first image is rough but it looks like a Ceratina, not Osmia. The ants are Lasius as has been said.

[T.C.]

Wow, someone that finally posted images in the body of a message, good job. The first image is rough but it looks like a Ceratina, not Osmia. The ants are Lasius as has been said.

I suspected Augochloropsis metallica ?

[gcsnelling]

Not Augochloropsis.

[T.C.]

@sgheaton, could you provide some pictures with better lighting if you still have it? I thought Ceratina sp. at first. Might be Ceratina calcarata. However a few things didn't look right so I thought possibly Augochloropsis metallica. I would be interested in looking more into this.

[gcsnelling]

Compare with other images of Ceratina, pretty obvious that is what it is.

[T.C.]

Compare with other images of Ceratina, pretty obvious that is what it is.

I'm not arguing or even debating this. They may be Ceratina. In fact that's more than likely what they are considering the body shape. However I don't see how anyone here could give a valid ID with the provided images.

[sgheaton]

I still have it so I'll try and take better pictures later. Was going to follow Zero's suggestion and attempt to serve it up as food. 

 

....I didn't mean for the IDing to get so involved! 

[AnthonyP163]

I think the first one is a sweat bee.

Yeah, I agree. I found these in my backyard and asked a beekeeper, he confirmed they were sweat bees.