10 replies to this topic

[VoidElecent]

Recently, my brother ("Bracchymyrmex"), and I have been documenting the species in your backyard, or the general vicinity of our neighborhood, to anticipate nuptial flights. So far we've set out bait traps, lifted up logs and simply explored to find different colonies. In this thread, I'll post pictures & statuses of some of the ants I find in my area, and add them to a general census I'll include in this post. Later on, when I get a bit more organized, I'll design a little map so I can match each colony to a general area. For now, I'll list the species name, and a little information about where they're nesting and what I've witnessed in terms of foraging. 

 

I would say the purpose of this thread is to keep track of all the colonies we know exist in out area, and for you all to voice your opinions, or provide some helpful information about the ants listed. For example, if one of the species listed was Crematogaster cerasi, one of you could tell me they were called "Acrobat Ants" and they triangular gasters. Or, if I clearly needed help deciphering between Formica and Camponotus workers, someone could give me a little help with that.

 

I suspect this will be slightly more useful to people who live relatively near where I do, so I've specified "Mid-Atlantic" and "North East" regions in the title.

 

Without further ado, here are some of the species that Bracc. and I have documented in Philadelphia. Red species live directly in my backyard, purple species live in my neighborhood and blue species are in Philadelphia, but are not in my general vicinity:

• Brachymyrex depilis - Caught a queen during mid-flight on my driveway.
• Myrmica sp. - Caught several queens after a flight, and have located a colony across from my garage.
• Tapinoma sessile - At this time of year, nearly all the ants foraging near my house are Tapinoma. There are several colonies in my yard.
• Tetramorium caespitum - Not sure if Sp. E or caespitum, but I really don't care that much. These are as, if not more, abundant than Tapinoma.
• Camponotus pennsylvanicus - Always been in my yard, Bracc. caught a dealate queen while taking our dog for a walk last summer.
• Camponotus chromaiodes - Either C. chromaiodes or C. novaeboracensis, but most likey C. chromaiodes.
• Camponotus castaneus - could also be a lighter Formica sp. I saw her during fall of last year, and only vaguely remember her appearance.
• Formica subsericea - Used to think was C. pennsylvanicus, locate a few workers foraging on a path outside.
• Formica pallidefulva - Thought they were C. chromaiodes first, but then Milta knocked some sense into me.
• Lasius neoniger - Located near where the F. pallidefulva live- very active during the day.
• Lasius alienus - Have a colony right outside my house, and live under two plastic sheets. I've put some stone near their nest, hopefully they move in.
• Laisus flavus - Briefly caught a glimpse of a worker while anting, she dashed right into her hole. She may also be a worker of a parasitic Lasius species.
• Monomorium minimum - So cute. Just way too cute. They also really love honey.
• Nyladneria faisonensis - Had a colony in our backyard, but we scooped the whole thing up and they're thriving in captivity
• Solenopsis molesta - Seem to have made very good friends with the L. neoniger...
• Nylanderia terricola - Located a nest at our school, just waiting for them to fly.
• Pheidole sp. - Could be P. bicarnata or P. pilifera, will have to create an ID thread.
• Prenolepis imparis - Caught 16 queens during a flight earlier this month.
• Crematogaster cerasi - caught several queens during a flight last September
• Vollenhovia emeryi - Fort Washing State Park
• Temnothorax curvispinosus - Fort Washington State Park

And that's pretty much it. Feel free to leave any questions or comments, thank you!

Edited by VoidElecent, April 23 2017 - 5:55 PM.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

• Tetramorium caespitum - Not sure if Sp. E or caespitum, but I really don't care that much. These are as, if not more, abundant than Tapinoma.

Species E. in North America is the same as T. caespitum. There was a study done a while back that was only half funded. It looked into the genetics of the species across the world and found out it's actually a species complex. Morphologically they're nearly identical looking but genetically they're clearly different. Overall it's mostly a problem for Europe which has species A, B, C, D, and I think F too.

Tetramorium tsushimae is slowly causing confusion as it spreads though. They look very similar but more often than not have ever so slightly bicolored workers that are smaller on average but still in the same general size range. They don't have nuptial flights, preferring to inbreed and divide to form super colonies.

 

• Camponotus castaneus - could also be a lighter Formica sp. I saw her during fall of last year, and only vaguely remember her appearance.

Camponotus castaneus queens are just as big as C. pennsylvanicus but a robust orange/brown color. Workers mostly forage at night though sometimes they stay out during the day if the food is rich enough. It's hard to find the buds of the Asian Peonies not covered in ants and this is one of the foods C. castaneus seem to love.

 

• Monomorium minimum - So cute. Just way too cute. They also really love honey.

Monomorium minimum is more of a western species. I'm more than likely to blame for making the world believe it's found on the east coast. Monomorium emarginatum is more likely. Not that it matters a whole lot, they're still small black ants.

 

It's not surprising that you're finding Formica pallidefulva and Lasius neoniger together. In the absence of Tetramorium these two would be more abundant. The Solenopsis molesta is interesting though. They're likely stealing brood or killing root aphids the L. neoniger colony isn't carefully protecting.

Twelve species in your yard is a fair amount of diversity. Some people in Fire and Argentine ant territory only have one, sometimes three. I think over the years I've counted more than thirty in my yard but some of them come and go. I no longer have Formica pergandei in my yard because there aren't enough F. pallidefulva or F. incerta colonies for them to bother with.

[Nathant2131]

You have some unique species in your yard.

I've seems a few other speciesbfiraging in my yard, but only a couple that have nests, or at least that I could tell.

Lasius neoniger, Tetramorium caespitum are the only ants that have ever nested in my yard.

Foraging, I always seee Prenolepis imparis, an occasional Lasius alienus, rarely Camponotus pennsylvanicus, and Formica fusca-group. I don't have much in my yard, but that all changes when I start walking around the block.

[BMM]

Tetramorium tsushimae is slowly causing confusion as it spreads though. They look very similar but more often than not have ever so slightly bicolored workers that are smaller on average but still in the same general size range. They don't have nuptial flights, preferring to inbreed and divide to form super colonies.

 

Just wanted to comment on this. The T. tsushimae we have here in St. Louis (their origination point in the US) are pretty uniform in color from what I've found. Japanese websites seem to confirm this as the norm. They're smaller in size than T. caespitum and sp. E., about 0.5mm shorter on average, and the queens are a bit smaller too, around 6mm long. This is my first year of anting, so I can't confirm if they have nuptial flights here, but from what I've read on Japanese websites, they do fly in the summer. There likely is inbreeding in the nest though. Every colony I've found is teeming with queens.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

 

Tetramorium tsushimae is slowly causing confusion as it spreads though. They look very similar but more often than not have ever so slightly bicolored workers that are smaller on average but still in the same general size range. They don't have nuptial flights, preferring to inbreed and divide to form super colonies.

 

Just wanted to comment on this. The T. tsushimae we have here in St. Louis (their origination point in the US) are pretty uniform in color from what I've found. Japanese websites seem to confirm this as the norm. They're smaller in size than T. caespitum and sp. E., about 0.5mm shorter on average, and the queens are a bit smaller too, around 6mm long. This is my first year of anting, so I can't confirm if they have nuptial flights here, but from what I've read on Japanese websites, they do fly in the summer. There likely is inbreeding in the nest though. Every colony I've found is teeming with queens.

 

For the bicolored part you can sort of see it here. Some of the workers have thoraxes that hue slightly red. This is mostly lacking in T. caespitum.

 

To be honest that link is where I got my information from. Over the summer T. caespitum queens are abundant in swimming pools the morning after they fly. They do show up at lights but typically not until midnight (which is a lot later than most other species that fly at night). If you have tons of T. tsushimae around it might be interesting to see if they're found in pools or not. Often whether a species flies with new queens starting on their own or breed within the colony and divide is population based. Presumably the population we have in the US is only the inbreed and divide kind.

[VoidElecent]

 

 

Tetramorium tsushimae is slowly causing confusion as it spreads though. They look very similar but more often than not have ever so slightly bicolored workers that are smaller on average but still in the same general size range. They don't have nuptial flights, preferring to inbreed and divide to form super colonies.

 

Just wanted to comment on this. The T. tsushimae we have here in St. Louis (their origination point in the US) are pretty uniform in color from what I've found. Japanese websites seem to confirm this as the norm. They're smaller in size than T. caespitum and sp. E., about 0.5mm shorter on average, and the queens are a bit smaller too, around 6mm long. This is my first year of anting, so I can't confirm if they have nuptial flights here, but from what I've read on Japanese websites, they do fly in the summer. There likely is inbreeding in the nest though. Every colony I've found is teeming with queens.

 

For the bicolored part you can sort of see it here. Some of the workers have thoraxes that hue slightly red. This is mostly lacking in T. caespitum.

 

To be honest that link is where I got my information from. Over the summer T. caespitum queens are abundant in swimming pools the morning after they fly. They do show up at lights but typically not until midnight (which is a lot later than most other species that fly at night). If you have tons of T. tsushimae around it might be interesting to see if they're found in pools or not. Often whether a species flies with new queens starting on their own or breed within the colony and divide is population based. Presumably the population we have in the US is only the inbreed and divide kind.

 

 

Is there any way of distinguishing T. tsushimae workers from T. caespitum while disregarding length or coloration? Although it's very probable that the workers near my house are T. caespitum, there's a chance they're not, and I'd like to get to the bottom of it.

[BMM]

For the bicolored part you can sort of see it here. Some of the workers have thoraxes that hue slightly red. This is mostly lacking in T. caespitum.

 

To be honest that link is where I got my information from. Over the summer T. caespitum queens are abundant in swimming pools the morning after they fly. They do show up at lights but typically not until midnight (which is a lot later than most other species that fly at night). If you have tons of T. tsushimae around it might be interesting to see if they're found in pools or not. Often whether a species flies with new queens starting on their own or breed within the colony and divide is population based. Presumably the population we have in the US is only the inbreed and divide kind.

 

 

That picture is more akin to what I've seen. Some photos of T. tsushimae show them being distinctly bi-colored, which I've yet to find.

 

The colony in my backyard has some alate larvae already. I'll be watching very closely for flights. I'm sure I'll be posting about the flights when or if they happen.

 

Is there any way of distinguishing T. tsushimae workers from T. caespitum while disregarding length or coloration? Although it's very probable that the workers near my house are T. caespitum, there's a chance they're not, and I'd like to get to the bottom of it.

 

 

Dr. Trager suggested length as the best indicator for differentiating them. However, I think the number of queens might be another option. Every T. tsushimae colony I've found has multiple queens. And by multiple I mean a lot. Several per square foot. I've never seen a T. sp E colony, but I don't believe you'll see that with them.

[VoidElecent]

My largest taxonomical identification dilemmas, are, as of now:

• Pheidole bicarinata vs. Pheidole pilifera (at my school).
• Monomorium minimum vs. Monomorium emarginatum (will have to take a good look at Nathan's thread, when I get some time).
• Tetramorium Sp. E vs. Tetramorium tsushimae (working on this currently, thanks to BMS and MILTA).

If any of you know how to ID these ants, or distinguish them form each other, that would be some great content for this thread. If not, I'm happy to do a little research . Thanks so far for all the time you guys have put into the replies- I really appreciate it.

[Nathant2131]

http://www.antwiki.o...f_the_New_World

[VoidElecent]

So I whipped out a microscope, and carefully looked at one of the Monomorium workers under 4 and 10 times magnification. If I'm doing it right, I've ruled out M. emarginatum; based on the number of hairs on the ant's mesosoma, and the ratio of the surface length & declivity of the ant's propodeum, this ant is either Monomorium viridium or Monomorium minimum.

 

I'll pick up another worker and look at it a little more carefully sometime soon, I'm not certain I'm doing this completely right.

[Canadian anter]

I almost only see the bicolored workers. However every Tetramorium queen I have caught as only raised all black workers