I caught these around my apartment complex so the habitat will be close to the same. I hope the first few will be okay because I noticed a bunch of little white balls all over the sidewalks which i believe are pestiside balls. I lost 1 of the orginal 5 i caught because i think she injested one. I checked today because i noticed how slugish she was and seemed to be having a harder and harder time moving around.
1. Location of collection: Lions Gate Apartment, Murray Utah
2. Date of collection: Jun 1
3. Habitat of collection: Suburb about a block away from a wild field, stream with With a lot of foliage
4. Length (from head to gaster): unsure but here is a picture with a normal Q-tip for scale
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: Black and kinda smooth, Its wings are kinda brownish not sure if it suffered a tragedy ingested the before mentioned pesticide the apartment complex is using or from trying to break off its wings
6. Distinguishing characteristics: kinda seems slow and slugish,
7. Distinguishing behavior: laid back, she seems to stay close to the water/cotton barrier
8. Nest description: na
pics:
2 of 4
this one is the i found on the side walk around my apartment, she seems energetic and when checking on the one that died she has already laid her first eggs less my eyes are playing tricks on me
1. Location of collection: Lions Gate Apartment, Murray Utah
2. Date of collection: Jun 2
3. Habitat of collection: Suburb about a block away from a wild field, stream with With a lot of foliage
4. Length (from head to gaster): unsure but here is a picture with a normal Q-tip for scale
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: black with an ever so faint red hue to her as seen in the picture above
6. Distinguishing characteristics: 2 peptole nodes, i believe has already laid her first eggs (will check next week on weekly check ups to be sure)
7. Distinguishing behavior: is quiet energetic and has moves around, instantly took to test tube and groomed herself
8. Nest description: na
3 of 4
1. Location of collection: Lions Gate Apartment, Murray Utah
2. Date of collection: Jun 2
3. Habitat of collection: Suburb about a block away from a wild field, stream with With a lot of foliage
4. Length (from head to gaster): unsure but here is a picture with a normal Q-tip for scale
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: Black, is the largest of the ants i've caught in comparison of all of them next to each other
6. Distinguishing characteristics: 2 peptole nodes,
7. Distinguishing behavior: When catching her she first attacked the lid I was using to try and gently move her into the tube, then she went in the tip and before i could put the lid on she stuck her tip half out and started attacking the rim of the tube. Side not i'm not sure if it matters, While she was attacking lid and rim of the tube a lone Camponotus sp. Major came on the sidewalk out of nowhere and continued to charged at me even when stepping out of the way until i could put the lid on then it stopped charged and continued crossing the sidewalk going back into the grass.
8. Nest description: NA
4 of 4
1. Location of collection: 4500 S Trax station
2. Date of collection: Jun 2
3. Habitat of collection: Suburb across the street from a wild field half a block away from a heavy foliage stream
4. Length (from head to gaster): idk
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: Black with a red hue
6. Distinguishing characteristics: Seems smooth and shiny
7. Distinguishing behavior: she is very energetic and photogenic as the pictures below show, I have pictures of the moments leading to her capture and directly after.
8. Nest description: na
after thoughts: So this post is more or less to confirm my suspicions and possibly fully identify them. I believe the first one is Tetramorium sp.E while the last three are Camponotus sp. This is my first year of ant keeping and these are my first queens. So I am unsure on what my assumptions will be. However I really do want to know so I can plan for and properly take care of these wonderful darlings. Also if I am wrong it would be nice to know so I can learn more. All help is welcomed.
