32 replies to this topic

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Well now that all of the queens have gotten a drink in the test tubes I've given them, something odd happened. They all look like T. curvispinosus now... So my T. longispinosus ID is wrong (apparently the name comes from them having long spines and none of mine do).

 

These might be the same species. They both inflated to look like T. curvispinosus queens but lack the curved spines as seen in the top photo of this reply. If this is the same species then T. ambiguus would appear to be well named.

[VoidElecent]

Temnothorax finally flew with similar intensity as the flights MILTA observed a few weeks ago. The past two days have been very eventful in terms of queen-catching; we caught two Formica pallidefulva, two Lasius alienus and droves of Temnothorax yesterday/ I'm expecting lots of activity tonight, as well.

 

 

A Formica pallidefulva queen drinking some water in her new test tube setup.

 

 

Temnothorax curvispinosus taking a rest after a long night of flying.

 

I'll update this thread with more photos, preferably of ants at the blacklight tonight or tomorrow.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Visited a friend in Coopersburg, PA on Saturday. Came across a colony of Lasius neoniger with their queen right near the surface. Left her and the colony intact because I'm stupid I didn't want to dig a hole in my friend's lawn.

 

While exploring the woods I came across an Aphaenogaster rudis colony that had seeds to some wildflower in a lower chamber of their nest. This was exciting to find but the colony is on something of a slope and the rock they were under was likely dislodge in the afternoon rain and probably fell into the little stream below. Still fun to see that process happening.

 

More closer to home, Solenopsis molesta flew today. It was a fairly large swarm between the hours of 4:00pm and 8:00pm. Note the one with the black gaster; it's common for queens of this species to be parasitized by nematodes, a type of worm a type of fungus. I don't think this parasite is well studied but I imagine they're not good for the queen. Clearly they use the queens as a dispersal method but their life cycle from there is a mystery. It's unlikely these queens are successful.

 

I love the worker crawling on the queen's wing in the last one here.

 

Also came across an Aphaenogaster rudis "flight" late in the afternoon. Probably between 7:30 and 8:30pm. They didn't' actually take off but workers were forcing males and queens out of the nest. None of which took off, perhaps tomorrow if conditions are right?

 

Also came across a Lasius cf. claviger queen or something like it. She arrived at the black light before it started down pouring and thundering at ~9:00. If only I had a colony of Lasius neoniger but where on earth could I get one of those?

Edited by MrILoveTheAnts, July 25 2017 - 12:22 PM.

[VoidElecent]

This is interesting, there was a rather large thief ant flight in PA yesterday as well and a good number of queens had black, almost iridescent gasters.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

A correction about what makes the gasters black. Apparently it's a parasitic fungus and not a nematode. The end result is still the same though. Here is an example of one, though probably a different species.

 

https://en.m.wikiped...azia_solenopsae

[VoidElecent]

A correction about what makes the gasters black. Apparently it's a parasitic fungus and not a nematode. The end result is still the same though. Here is an example of one, though probably a different species.

 

https://en.m.wikiped...azia_solenopsae

 

WeatherAnt got some great footage of these black queens; check it out. I'm going to remove any queens with black gasters from polygynous tubes I created after yesterday's massive flight; I don't want any of my other queens getting infected.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Did some anting today at Turkey Swamp Park and a field that we're dubbing Trachy-Land.

 

You can see the scrub land's Trachymyrmex like to nest in. They also go for not so lush lawn settings adjacent to White Oaks.

 

You can see a slight size difference among individual workers.

 

A young workers among her older sisters.

 

 

Formica integra partaking of a grape.

 

Formica exsetoides mounds surprisingly lacking in activity compared to past years we've visited. It was too nice of a day out so most of the ants were inside their nest.

 

 

The rarely seen Dolichoderus plagiatus. They were in a difficult spot to get at camera wise.

 

Sawfly Larva in various stages eating leaves. These are the black sheep of the Hymenoptera order. These caterpillar-like insects are related to ants oddly enough though certainly more so to wasps. The adults to many of these are parasitic of beetle grubs, but others like the ones above feed on plant foliage. 

 

There will be a video of all this coming soon.

 

[MrILoveTheAnts]

[VoidElecent]

Beautiful pictures, Milta. I'm very curious about the Dolichoderus— did you find them in the same spot as the Trachymyrmex?

[MrILoveTheAnts]

No but both were around White Oak trees. They're both found in Jackson County NJ. Turkey Swamp Park has the Dolichoderus (oddly enough in a parking lot there) and the Trachy are in the other location I believe you already know about (oddly enough also near a parking lot.) I'm happy to say we found a LOT more Trachy colonies this year in that population too.

Edited by MrILoveTheAnts, August 28 2017 - 5:25 PM.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

A few of Evan's videos to give you his perspective from the trip. He lives closer to the location than I do so hopefully he'll be able to keep us updated.

 

 

[Evanthomas89]

Finally got around to uploading the pictures from that day onto here. 

 

[MrILoveTheAnts]

 

Prenolepis imparis enjoying a tasty pawpaw which landed on the ground beneath my tree.

 

Normally animals are intended to remove the flesh of this fruit to free the seeds within, which will otherwise risk rotting and being invaded by mold and fungal pathogens. Ideally the animal is also supposed to carry the fruit off too but that didn't happen. The ants were removing the exposed flesh within the fruit.

 

Some good anatomy shots. In the top you can sort of make out the acidopore, a tuft of hairs at the tip of the gaster all ant genera within this subfamily have. And in the lower it's clear to see the singular waist segment, another trait all members of this subfamily share.

 

 

Brachymyrmex dipilis queen and worker.