1. Location (on a map) of collection: Phoenix, AZ
2. Date of collection: July 25 2017
3. Habitat of collection: Road median with plants
4. Length (from head to gaster): 6-7 mm
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: Dark(black?), with shiny gaster
6. Distinguishing characteristics: Red mandibles. Black head/body. Lighter colored legs. Gaster has a sheen to it that is almost golden. Gaster also has two or three lighter colored lines going around the circumference.
7. Distinguishing behavior:
8. Nest description: Found while digging founding chamber
The uploader isn't letting me upload so I utilized imgur:
https://imgur.com/gallery/8r8c8
I wish I could get better photos. My camera phone is unable to focus much at all. Bought a macro lens for it and its focal length is so close it is hard to get close enough. I hope these are good enough for all you experts.
Apologies, I didn't get any photos of the founding chamber. I found this one while it was digging it, but I dug up a few others that looked identical and their founding chambers looked like small mounds.
And apologies for not getting images of the surroundings. Dirt was red. Was beneath a Palo Verde tree, near the watering system (drip irrigation, not sprinklers/etc).
