38 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

9-11-2014
 
I found these Temnothorax queens July 24th 2014 in Trabuco Canyon, California. These were caught shortly after dark, using a black light.
 
ID Thread: https://www.formicul...php/topic/1736-
 
1. Location of collection: Trabuco Canyon, California.
2. Date of collection:  4-29-2015.
3. Habitat of collection:  Chaparral, oak forest.
4. Length (from head to gaster):  3.5 mm.
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture:  Desaturated maize.
6. Distinguishing characteristics: Hairs short, and appear as if they were chopped off; hairs sparse and very evenly spaced on gaster, with very little pubescence; 12 antennal segments.
 

 

 

 
So far two of them seem to be fertile, and just got their first workers a few days ago.
 

 
 
Edit: I had to change a few things with this original post, because I found out I had two different species of Pheidole here.
 
Edit: Changed this yet again, after finding out these are not Pheidole, but Temnothorax.

Edited by dspdrew, June 20 2020 - 9:16 AM.

[Gregory2455]

Pheidole!   Nice ones Drew!

Edited by Gregory2455, September 12 2014 - 9:42 AM.

[Myrmicinae]

That is a very small queen-worker dimorphism for a Pheidole species, especially considering that the worker is only a nanitic.  Also... interesting wing spots on the alate queen.  I'm looking forward to hearing how this colony develops.

Edited by Myrmicinae, September 12 2014 - 9:19 AM.

[Gregory2455]

These guys are tiny!!! Not surprised though.

[dspdrew]

Update 1-17-2015
 
These have been growing very slowly. I think all three are fertile, but one I don't think has ever gotten workers. Right now that one only has a larva. The other two have a few workers. The largest colony, with seven workers, eight larvae, a pupae and a few eggs, I just moved into a foraging container.
 

 

[Gregory2455]

what's the reasoning behind these being Pheidole again? They look a lot like Temnothorax. I guess we will see if they make majors...

[dspdrew]

I think it was the number of antennal segments. After I posted microscope pictures of them, Dr. Trager said it was definitely Pheidole.

[Gregory2455]

But the worker size looks so weird...

[dspdrew]

Update 4-30-2015
 
I was down to one colony of these, with only one larva, but tonight I found two more of these queens. I think something bad happened to the larger colony, but I don't remember exactly. I'm not sure why I didn't put it in the journal.

[Vendayn]

Some Pheidole are indeed very tiny. I've seen one species, the workers were barely larger than Solenopsis molesta workers and the majors were pretty small too.

 

Too bad you lost your good colony. It looked like they were doing good.

[dspdrew]

Oh yeah, I think most all of the species in the Pilifera group have workers that small. It's the 4 mm queens that I don't think is very common (where we live at least).

[dspdrew]

Update 6-14-2015
 
I'm not sure what happened to the original colony of these, because I can't find it anywhere. The two newer ones are doing well still.
 
On Tuesday last week, 6-9-2015, these had a big mating flight, and I found tons of them on my black light. I ended up with about 45 of them total.
 

 
 
I put them in groups of five in each test tube, and filled nine test tubes. Some of them had dropped their wings, so I put one of those in each of the test tubes.

[Alza]

I feel like this is Pheidole Yaqui, but there's no way to know.

[dspdrew]

Update 6-26-2015
 
So far five of these new groups of queens have eggs.

[Bardusquus]

rip males

[dspdrew]

Update 9-9-2015
 
The two older colonies are both up to nine workers each now, and a couple of the four newer ones I have left are very close to getting their first workers.

 

I notice they're starting to produce larger workers that are almost as big as the queen.

 

Edit: I have decided now that these are Temnothorax and not Pheidole. Aside from the size of the queen, and size and shape of these newer larger workers, I think James C. Trager might have counted the antennal segments wrong in the older, lower quality pictures I had at the time. There are clearly 12, which makes this even more likely to be Temnothorax. I think there are only four species in California with 11 antennal segments, and these are clearly not any of them.

[Gregory2455]

I notice they're starting to produce larger workers that are almost as big as the queen.

Sounds like Temnothorax...

[dspdrew]

I was thinking the same... I'll have to go back over the ID process.

 

Edit: I'm pretty sure these are Temnothorax now. I changed the journal.

[Alza]

So they don't have majors ? :c

[dspdrew]

Not if they're Temnothorax.