13 replies to this topic

[Gregory2455]

Before you got into ants, and you did not care for all the diversity in them, which genus/species did you always picture when you would think "ant"?

[Gregory2455]

Formica sp.

[dermy]

Camponotus and Lasius.

[benjiwuf]

camponotous pennsylvanicus, formica sp., and an orange ant I can't identify now (was about 20ish years ago).

 

Edit: thanks to crystals nasty red ants I remembered one more, a red ant with a black gaster. those were also quite common and another I often thought of. again I'm not sure of the genus or species though.

Edited by benjiwuf, November 9 2014 - 1:10 PM.

[dean_k]

Before I got into anting, ant was ant. Ants were all the same.

[Crystals]

Nature in general has always interested me, so I knew there were at least 4-5 different types.

If someone said ant, it was probably Formica podzolica which are super abundant up here - most lawns about 20x30 feet have at least 4-5 nests of this species.

 

I, and most of my family, knew of Carpenter ants (Camponotus herculeanus), little red ants (Myrmica), little black ants (Lasius neoniger), and nasty red ants (parasitic Formica with red head and thorax).

[AntsAreUs]

(parasitic Formica with red head and thorax).

Is this F. subintegra? I have those and I really want to get some next year. I already have a F. fusca ready to boost F. subintegra.

 

For the actual topic, I think of Lasius neoniger. Myrmica sp. Formica pratensis, and Camponotus pennsylvanicus.

[DesertAntz]

Growing up in Cali I saw a lot of Pogonomyrmex and Veromessor. At least those are the ones that stood out because of their size. I thought all small red and black ants eventually grew into Pogonomyrmex and Veromessor. 

 

Hell, even this year, before I studied up on the forums, I thought Dorymyrmex bicolor were "fire ants" because they were red. 

[Gregory2455]

Before I got into anting, ant was ant. Ants were all the same.

Exactly, but when you pictured an ant, what species or genus did it look like?

[Crystals]

Is this F. subintegra? I have those and I really want to get some next year. I already have a F. fusca ready to boost F. subintegra.

 

For the actual topic, I think of Lasius neoniger. Myrmica sp. Formica pratensis, and Camponotus pennsylvanicus.

It applied to any Formica with a red head and thorax, there are about 20 different species that fit this description (more if you look for darker colors), mostly in the rufa and the sanguinea groups.

[dean_k]

Exactly, but when you pictured an ant, what species or genus did it look like?

 

Probably a Lasius Neoniger worker.

 

Tiny, black, busy going after food people dropped.

[dspdrew]

Hell, even this year, before I studied up on the forums, I thought Dorymyrmex bicolor were "fire ants" because they were red. 

I thought the same when I first started looking for ants.

[123LordOfAnts123]

Either Solenopsis invicta or Dorymyrmex bureni, simply because those were the two most common "types" I was used to seeing in my area.

[AntsAreUs]

Probably a Lasius Neoniger worker.

 

Tiny, black, busy going after food people dropped.

Just caught on to this but I think what you talking about is Lasius niger