74 replies to this topic

[soulsynapse]

Yea, then heading down to 29 palms to drive through Joshua tree making a few stops along the way

[nurbs]

Gimme a sec... let me upload some radars for you 

[soulsynapse]

Thanks nurbs, net out here is terrible

[nurbs]

Sorry for the messy screencap. Doing this from an IPAD. But it should be informative.

 

Note TIME DURATION and LOCATION.

 

As you can see, 29 Palms got pounded harder than a... oh, wait, sorry this forum has kids. 

 

Anyway, find some inner roads that can get you to those yellow orange red spots. You may need a 4x4. Don't get stuck in a sedan!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by nurbs, July 19 2017 - 6:19 PM.

[soulsynapse]

Cheers nurbs

There is so much [censored] flying right now I can't leave my car

Drew saying to blacklight was like a bad joke
I am going to have to fetch my blacklight setup in the morning
It sounds like rain on my windows

[soulsynapse]

I left the car to get a crematogaster queen and came back in the car with six on my shirt

[honourable]

IF you got extra M. Mexicanus I would like to buy a colony! I'm in So Cal Anaheim area. Let me know and gl!

[Scrixx]

I left the car to get a crematogaster queen and came back in the car with six on my shirt

 

Someone having a fun day! Keep us updated, this is great reading what's going on.

[nurbs]

I left the car to get a crematogaster queen and came back in the car with six on my shirt

Drive to a nearby gas station. Hangout there and check the gas pumps. Pheidole and Crems everywhere.

[dspdrew]

I was like damn 12 feet Drew is hardcore af

 

[dspdrew]

There were Forelius and an unIDed species that looks similar to Pogo just a bit smaller. Only 2 inches of rain and it was drying up by 8 AM already. 

 

 

That wasn't two inches of rain, but wet dirt two inches deep. Big difference. From what I've seen, most small species will fly with that much rain, along with a couple larger ones like Pogonomyrmex rugosus and Novomessor cockerelli. That's why you almost always find P. rugosus founding chambers. N. cockerelli leave no trace though. You will only find them from when they fly around 9:00 pm or so, until it gets light. Once it gets light they hide and are almost impossible to find.

[dspdrew]

Most of that rain was in the morning, so night fliers might have flown, and morning fliers might fly this morning when the sun comes up. Usually if the rain is later in the day, they won't fly until the next night and morning after that. They like when everything is damp, not soaking wet.

[soulsynapse]

Mexicanus flew out here, as did what is either placodops, mimicus or mendax, I can't tell. I only have one of the first and about ten of the latter. I also have about 8 novomessor, so that's fun though they all walk around like a dog with worms

Foul headache brought on by this extreme weather.. don't want to stay out here too much longer

[soulsynapse]

My life today:

"Damn that's a huge founding chamber, I bet mexicanus dug it!"

angry rugosus queen falls out of dirt pile

Me:

[dspdrew]

Awesome! Where did this happen exactly?

 

M. mexicanus are the only honeypot ants that you can ID simply by looking at their founding chamber. They are usually much larger, and the size of the dirt clods they pull out while digging are almost 1/4 inch in diameter. All the rest are usually just a wild guess, which unfortunately can include other genera you might not be looking for too.

[soulsynapse]

Goffs Rd a few hundred yards north of hidden hills rd

[dspdrew]

I also have about 8 novomessor, so that's fun though they all walk around like a dog with worms

 

  Yup.

[soulsynapse]

Haven't found any Mex founding chamber, the one I got was during the flight. Mexicanus density definitely is not high out here

[soulsynapse]

Heading home ATM, not a lot of containers left and don't want my ants to cook in my car.

By the way the flight def happened at around 9pm, same for what I think is mimicus. Massive termite flight and about a dozen other bugs I couldn't id too. I was pulling drones out of my ears this morning.

I'll scope out 29 palms on the way back too

[nurbs]

Mexicanus like areas with taller/dense vegetation. If the spots are mostly sparse and low lying bushes, look for another spot. I have hit up spots with all Mexicanus, but the area had a lot more trees and shrubs.