8 replies to this topic

[Nathant2131]

It's ~ 8:00 PM in Spanish Wells, Bahamas when I find a Paratrechina longicornis (Black Crazy Ant) colony budding in the yard last night.(7/15/17) Was quite confused at first since I thought they were having a flight, and that was when I realized they did not fly; They bud. I believe the part of the video where there was that huge mass of workers (1:05) was the nest that was budding/splitting.

 

This article cleared up what was going on for me: http://www.cabi.org/...datasheet/44709

 

 

During this, Brachymyrmex obscurior were teasing to fly, but the few alates that surfaced went back into their nests after some time. The workers around the nests were super active though, and there were lots of them.

 

I still have a question however: Why were males being sent to the new colonies?

Edited by Nathant2131, July 19 2017 - 10:38 AM.

[Martialis]

This seems like the island of invasives.

[Nathant2131]

This seems like the island of invasives.

It's not as bad as you think actually, but it's still sad. The two most common species on the island is Dorymyrmex pyramicus and Brachymyrmex obscurior, both native to the Bahamas. There are more invasive species than native ones though.

 

The invasive species Ihave found thus far on the island:

 

Solenopsis invicta

Pheidole megacephala

Tapinoma melanocephalum

Paratrechina longicornis

Cardiocondyla emeryi

[Martialis]

You sound much younger than I was anticipating.

[WeatherAnt]

This seems like the island of invasives.

 

Bermuda was like that when I went there a few years ago. Just invasive species from what I could tell.

[souljah212]

Dominica has many of these Ant sp too. I currently have a Brachymyrmex obscurior colony coming along nicely. Got about 14-15 workers now. and I have a solenopsis genus but not sure what species. The workers look like what could be either Molesta or Geminata. The queen is dark brown to black color, with two nodes. Workers are really small 1/16 inch, all yellow/gold and they move moderately slower than lets say my Brachymyrmex.

[cpman]

Dominica has many of these Ant sp too. I currently have a Brachymyrmex obscurior colony coming along nicely. Got about 14-15 workers now. and I have a solenopsis genus but not sure what species. The workers look like what could be either Molesta or Geminata. The queen is dark brown to black color, with two nodes. Workers are really small 1/16 inch, all yellow/gold and they move moderately slower than lets say my Brachymyrmex.

That's probably one of the S. molesta-group species. Unfortunately, that group has many different species, which are all pretty similar.

S. geminata is bigger, and will sting.

Edited by cpman, July 19 2017 - 9:43 AM.

[Nathant2131]

Dominica has many of these Ant sp too. I currently have a Brachymyrmex obscurior colony coming along nicely. Got about 14-15 workers now. and I have a solenopsis genus but not sure what species. The workers look like what could be either Molesta or Geminata. The queen is dark brown to black color, with two nodes. Workers are really small 1/16 inch, all yellow/gold and they move moderately slower than lets say my Brachymyrmex.

Has B. obscurior been flying for you recently? There were at least 3 consecutive evening flights over the past days.

[souljah212]

Not that I have noticed. I do however have a secondary Brachy colony that's coming along nicely two. She had her first worker few days ago and a few more that I saw this morning. Are they Polygyne? Was wondering if I could combine the two eventually. But my yard is full of various Ant Species. I actually caught one that didn't exactly have the typical ant features and released it, just to come across a picture of the exact same ant on google.

 

here's a pic of what I thought wasn't an ant lol: http://www.alexander...era/i-xcwTMVL/A

 

And she had wings. She was on my dogs back, I saw wings, and it was yellow, and thought oh its a queen ant. Picked it off him and let her kinda walk on my hand. Got her into a test tube, then I thought, this isn't a queen, so I let her go. sigh!