8 replies to this topic

[KalenH]

Hello Ant Wizards,

 

Yesterday I noticed winged ants distanced from any local nests and got excited that a nuptial flight may had taken place. I scooped up many of what I hoped to be queens. Could some trained eyes assist me with identification? 

 

Thank you for your time,

Kalen

 

1. Location (on a map) of collection: Peachtree City, Georgia Zip: 30269
2. Date of collection: 10/11/17
3. Habitat of collection: Southside Atlanta suburbs are carved out of forest and swamp like biome. 
4. Length (from head to gaster): Sorry, i'm useless here. It wasn't an instict of mine to grab a measurement when taking the photos. 

5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: I would consider them dark brown and I see a series of lighter stripes on the gaster.

6. Distinguishing characteristics: My untrained eye notices a long waist indicative of crematogaster. The stripes make me think of Lasius Claviger

7. Distinguishing behavior: I was skeptical that they were queens until I noticed that they were wandering around without communicating with other local ants. I later noticed some of these beginning to dig out their founding chambers without assistance from any other ants.

 

8. Nest description: The ant nests around these ants were often singular holes that were being dug with dirt piling symmetrically around the entrance, this hold true for the nests with workers. 

 

9. Nuptial flight time and date: I think the flight took place during the morning of 10/10/2017 after the rains of the hurricane passing on 10/8 and 10/9/17. I saw what would have been hundreds of these but captured a little under 10.

[Images of ant]
https://imgur.com/a/1D1oN

https://imgur.com/a/0fYUw
[Images of nest]
 
[Images of habitat]

https://imgur.com/a/bHxkm

 

Bonus Ant - My friend snagged this one up at the same timing. It is larger than the 10 queens I've posted about above. It has a couple spiked humps on it's gaster that make it look particularly interesting. The antennae are also very long. I'm thinking this is maybe a camponotus worker from the local brush but I'd be excited if it was also a queen of a different variety.

https://imgur.com/a/4qeFy

https://imgur.com/a/2KKNy

https://imgur.com/a/QGnPG

[T.C.]

The first one is Selenopsis invicta.

 

The second is not a ant at all.

[Connectimyrmex]

The second one is a young assassin bug.

[KalenH]

S invicta? Maaaaaaan, that is a bummer. They've overwhelmed georgia to such a degree that i'm almost uninterested in raising them. So many stings as a child. I would feel like i'm raising satan instead of an ant colony.

 

Thank you for the Ids though, I really appreciate it. 

 

Does this make me the only "1" under october for Solenopsis invicta in this chart?

http://www.formicult...ngmating-chart/

[drtrmiller]

S invicta? 
Does this make me the only "1" under october for Solenopsis invicta in this chart?
http://www.formicult...ngmating-chart/

 
Since they are a non-native tropical species, they will fly whenever weather permits and food and water are abundant.  That's climate change.

[T.C.]

S invicta? Maaaaaaan, that is a bummer. They've overwhelmed georgia to such a degree that i'm almost uninterested in raising them. So many stings as a child. I would feel like i'm raising satan instead of an ant colony.

 

Haha, yeah. That is how most feel about this species. It if was mine I would step on it.

[KalenH]

 

S invicta? 
Does this make me the only "1" under october for Solenopsis invicta in this chart?
http://www.formicult...ngmating-chart/

 
Since they are a non-native tropical species, they will fly whenever weather permits and food and water are abundant.  That's climate change.

 

I suppose that is one of the contributors to their success in "the south"?

 

I see that you're in Georgia as well. Can we expect any more nuptial flights out of non-invictus species in the near future or should I accept that I'll have to start come Spring?

 

 

 

S invicta? Maaaaaaan, that is a bummer. They've overwhelmed georgia to such a degree that i'm almost uninterested in raising them. So many stings as a child. I would feel like i'm raising satan instead of an ant colony.

 

Haha, yeah. That is how most feel about this species. It if was mine I would step on it.

 

My joke to my cube partner was that I'm as likely to put them in the oven as I am to keep them. I may keep them for a couple months and then release them. My expectation is they'll probably speed through population production so fast i'd be struggling to keep up with them by spring. 

[T.C.]

Sounds good. However don't release them. Just freeze them, then throw them away to avoid environmental hazards.

[Connectimyrmex]

In Hawaii, there were so many Solenopsis geminata colonies, with queens running around on almost every tennis court past 7pm on certain days. Rather than disliking this species (I have gotten stung thousands of times ), I actually love them, because they introduced me to ant keeping.