Hello everyone,
I wasn't entirely sure where to post this; I considered The Ant Photography Thread, but I do want as much feedback as possibly if any of you more experienced hobbyists are willing to share any information about this species.
Nearly a month ago, I published an identification thread concerning a supposed small (3 mm) Camponotus Myrmentoma minor worker I found in my front yard, which the legendary BatSpiderFish somehow correctly identified as Colobopsis mississippiensis, despite the utterly miserable photos I provided. I was very, very hesitant to leave it at this, so I took some more photos of another minor I found on the same tree, and managed to get some good shots of the underside of her head, which revealed her flat face and confirmed the identification as Colobopsis mississippiensis.
Up until today, I had been suspicious about this identification for several reasons. This mainly had to do with the apparent lack of documentation of this species in Pennsylvania; there had been zero records of Colobopsis mississippiensis in PA according to Antmaps. I know a number of you who live in Southern and Midwestern regions of the States tend to come across members of this genus fairly often, but from my understanding they are significantly rarer in relatively Northern states like PA.
Inspired by MrILoveTheAnts's latest video, I went out this morning to offer the Myrmica incompleta colony at the base of the same tree a petri dish full of sesame seeds, just to see what they'd do. I stayed there for a little bit and watched as the ants hesitantly approached the petri dish, and noticed a couple Crematogaster-sized Colobopsis minors rummaging around on the bark. They closely resembled Camponotus caryae workers, although they were much smaller.
I hadn't seen any Colobopsis workers in a couple days, so I was rather excited to see them running around. I looked at them a little more closely to (attempt to) make out a flat face, but they were too small and moved too quickly for me to really be confident they were Colobopsis. A few minutes later I stood up and inspected the side of the tree, and saw a beautiful, red and black major worker running around on the bark of the trunk! Now I can confidently confirm that these are in fact Colobopsis mississippiensis!
I took a few photos of the ant, but my camera refused to focus on her head so they aren't the best. If any of you know about these ants' foraging habits, preferred diet, nuptial flights or activity feel free to drop on by and share some info!
Thank you BatSpiderFish for helping me identify these, and I'm sorry I doubted you!
And some thirsty Crematogaster cerasi!
Edited by VoidElecent, June 4 2017 - 1:03 PM.