23 replies to this topic

[Nathant2131]

As I write, this, I'm sitting in the Ft. Lauderdale airport in Southern Florida, on my way to Spanish Wells,  Bahamas. I'm about to board the last of my two flights. The vacation will last 28 days until August 7 (8/7).

 

The island I am vacationing on is only 2 miles long, and 1 mile wide. So I expect the ant diversity to be cut down a bit. I have been here at least 6 other times in my life, but this is the first time where I bring my ant passion with me. My goal is to document the ant species, their behaviour and distribution throughout the island of Spanish Wells, Bahamas. There is very little information put out there on the ant fauna of the carribean (other than antmaps.org) so I'm not sure what to expect at all. I've got 3 plastic test tubes, plenty of cotton balls, and a ruler packed! I may also try to keep some invasive queens in captivity for a bit before I leave.

 

 

The native species that antmaps lists: http://antmaps.org/?

Expect lots of pictures and info of what I find in the next 28 days, and ID threads that I will give links to in the following posts. 

Note: I am not transporting or smuggling any ants out of the island!

 

The overview below will be edited a lot as I become more familiar with the ants of the island.  So ignore the stuff that seems unfinished in this post.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Island Overview

 

The island on a satellite:

Note: The island close below is Russel island, not part of Spanish Wells.

 

 

Beach/Harbourside Locations:

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Microhabitat Documenting

 

Spanish Wells Public Cemetery

Location on Satellite:

 

Images:

 

As you can see there is a road going right through the cemetery, making what is kind of an "East side" and "West side". The est side is much smaller. (In the next picture the East side is on the left, and the West side is on the right.)

 

 

East side:

 

 

 

West Side:

 

 

Ants present (that I have observed thus far):

 

Brachymyrmex obscurior: Very common ant on both sides of the cemetery. They like to have their entrances up against the graves.

 

 

Dorymyrmex pyramicus: Also very common on both sides. They like their mounds in open ground where there is some open sand.

 

 

Paratrechina longicornis

 

Pheidole megacephala: As far as I have observed, these are only on the West side, and are also quite common. Their nests are built almost exclusively at the bases of graves and walls.

 

Solenopsis cf. invicta: Present and common on both sides, and viscious on both. These girls forage in numbers, and no other ant comes close. I even found some workers tearing apart what I think was a cockroach.

 

 

Wreckers Restaurant & Bar Yard

Location on Satellite:

 

 

Images:

 

 

 

 

 

There are LOTS of Curly-Tail Lizards there. Actually I have yet to find another area on the island where this type of Lizard is present:

 

 

 

Ants present (that I have observed thus far):

 

Brachymyrmex obscurior: This species is not too established here, as I have only found a few foraging workers. I theorize that it is because of the very high amount of Pheidole megacephala and Solenopsis invicta in the area, and from what I have read, Brachymyrmex obscurior do not put up well against competition.

 

Dorymyrmex pyramicus: common on the habitat. There are a few places with some large mounds.

 

 

There was this area with a few mounds in the red sand that is common in the habitat (which might have been put there as decoration), which was pretty cool to see.

 

 

Pheidole megacephala: The most dominant and common ant on the habitat without a doubt. I have never seen another spot on the island that is controlled by this species this hard, and that is saying something.

 

I found a colony under this small wood block (nestled in between these two trees) in that red sand. Actually I have uncovered it a few times in the last few days, and there are often queens (both alates and dealates) under it. In the following pics you can see the colony's excavations in the sand after I uncovered the block:

 

 

 

 

The colony dragging in an insect right next to the "wood block nest":

 

 

Also did I mention how this species LOVES to build their mounds in the red sand?

 

Solenopsis invicta: Wherever Pheidole megacephala are not present in this habitat, Solenopsis invicta is in a good bit of it. This is another one of those "S. invicta hotspots" just like the cemetery.

 

Here was that swarming colony that I mentioned earlier (All of that grayish raised soil in the grass is all the mounds):

 

 

Tapinoma melanocephalum: While (as far as I can tell) they are not present where the other ants are, they still thrive in the restaurant. The restaurant is actually based outside on a very large deck above the water, and I see the workers going up and down the wood poles. I assume they get a large part of their diet off of our food.

 

I am assuming that all of the ant diversity is cut down in this Microhabitat because of how common Pheidole megacephala and Solenopsis invicta are.

Edited by Nathant2131, August 3 2017 - 6:19 PM.

[VoidElecent]

y r u smuglin ants form ilsand?

 

I hope you find Cephalotes! 

Edited by VoidElecent, July 10 2017 - 9:55 AM.

[Nathant2131]

y r u smuglin ants form ilsand?

[Nathant2131]

So I have got somewhat of a feel of what is on this island over the last couple days.

 

Brachymyrmex obscurior and Dorymyrmex pyramicus are the two dominators of the island. Both species are pretty much everywhere on the island as far as I have explored. However, D. pyramicus are very abundant at the beach. B. obscurior prefer inland, but are still relatively common on the beach. Our rental houses' yard, which is situated inland, and has lots of grass, sand, and tree-like plants, is crawling with both these species.

 

Paratrechina longicornis are also common on the island. There is a colony in my yard, and I've seen many foragers on the urban harbourside. I haven't took much note of this species but they are abundant. When I first found the colony in my yard, it was under a small stone. There were a bunch of dealate queens and workers under there and they scattered. The second time I lifted their rock, there were a bunch of orange males. It seems they have moved out from the disturbances now however. Today, I found a dealate queen that I believe to be this species wandering around inland, looking for places to dig. It must be their flight season.

 

I've also seen Solenopsis cf. invicta a couple times so far. The first time was a trail of foraging workers on the urban harbourside, and the other was a bunch of foragers and nest entrances on the rural Beach, in the Northern part of the island. I even saw a major outside an entrance.

 

 

There are Pheidole sp. in my yard, but I've only seen them a couple times foraging near a tree-like plant. The majors and minors would enter the base of the plant where it looks like there's a nest entrance. I couldn't see it or them today though.

 

I also found a dying Camponotus sp. dealate queen inside the house. She was probably the most beautiful ant I've ever caught. It's too bad she died. I still have her though, so I'll take pics soon! I also hope to find Campnotus soon on the island. It's good to know they are here.

 

And last but not least, I found a dead female alate of some sort, also found in the house seconds apart from the Camponotus queen. My best guess is Crematogaster, but I really don't have a clue.

Edited by Nathant2131, July 18 2017 - 8:17 AM.

[Nathant2131]

 

A Paratrechina longicornis worker from my yard. I definitely nailed their ID; Notice the long, scruffy hairs on the head, large eyes, and extremely long scapes.

 

 

 

The queen that I found today. She was walking along the base of a wall that was in between a yard and the street, trying to find nooks and crannies to dig into. I found it interesting how she was on the street side of the wall, and not the yard! The ants here have proved to be very unaffected by the more urban areas of the island.

Edited by Nathant2131, July 12 2017 - 6:29 PM.

[Nathant2131]

 

A Dorymyrmex pyramicus entrance under a slab of driveway.

 

 

Another nest. Notice the cone formation on the propodeum of the workers.

[Nathant2131]

Yesterday I went anting on the beach on the Southwest side of the island - I was namely finding D. pyramicus everywhere, but I also found an area of at least a dozen or so Solenopsis cf. invicta entrances; All from the same colony, I believe. The entrances were inconpicuous and tiny. They were hard to find again since the substrate of the hills were the same as the beach. I also saw large workers come out once in a while, but I don't think it was a major, nor a minor. Pretty sure they were medias.

 

Other than that, I saw a Brachymyrmex cf. obscurior female alate walking around. There were only a couple of times that I saw Brachymyrmex during this anting expedition. One of those times, there was a dead bee only inches from an entrance (They have SUPER tiny entrances, by the way). When I first saw them there were about 8 workers from that nest inspecting the bee or coming out of the entrance to see what's for lunch. However there were a few Dorymyrmex pyramicus that also found it - they tried some evasive techniques to try and get a bite, but eventually the Brachs outnumbered them as more and more workers left the nest for the bee. This was contrary to what I have read; It has been theorised that B. obscurior are not very strong competitors against other ants, but this proved otherwise.

 

The Solenopsis colony:

 

I wasn't able to get any great pics becuase of how hot it was. I had to take some periodic dips in the water to cool myself off for a bit, than go back to anting. Not like the water in the caribbean is particularly cold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ID Thread - http://www.formicult...417/#entry66534

 

I'm hoping to get some pictures of the Pheidole in my yard soon - I found them again, nesting at the base of a tree/plant thing.

Edited by Nathant2131, July 14 2017 - 6:20 PM.

[Nathant2131]

At one point during the beach anting trip I got to an area with lots of D. pyramicus mounds next to the vegetation. This is where they were most common. Habitat:

 

 

Edited by Nathant2131, July 14 2017 - 10:55 AM.

[Nathant2131]

Over the past day or so I've encountered many new species, most in which I forgot about or could not identify. So I'll go back to their locations and clarify later. But I have seen Tapinoma melanocephalum a couple times in the last few days - The first time was in a restauraunt. There was a worker or two foraging in the building beside a windiw. The second time was today. There seemed to be a colony of them in a crack in the outside wall of a snack shack.

 

But yesterday, I walked to a small little trail near the beach. There were a lot of Solenopsis workers foraging around and also a few nests I saw.

Edited by Nathant2131, July 15 2017 - 7:48 AM.

[Nathant2131]

It's ~ 8:00 PM 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. They died down with the budding almost at once a few minutes after I stopped recording.

 

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 can't confirm if they flew or not. If they did, it was a pretty tiny flight.

 

Also, I know why I wasn't finding Camponotus. They only forage at night! This one species started foraging on the wall that the P. longicornis were on after they stopped budding. The Pheidole colony or colonies in my yard (which I have ID'ed as P. megacephala) also started foraging full force when it got dark:

 

 

In the video you can see some P. longicornis stragglers above when the budding was mostly died down.

Edited by Nathant2131, July 18 2017 - 6:47 AM.

[Nathant2131]

So the last few days have been action-packed ant-wise, whether that be some new species, budding, and nuptial flights!

 

7/16/17

Brachymyrmex obscurior flew that evening. Most of the flight was observed in the backyard. There were about a dozen colonies that were flight-active. The colonies that were situated at the bases of trees or walls would use those to their advantage. The workers and alates would climb up them, and the alates would take off from the high places. I even saw a mating pair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At about 8:15 PM I also noticed that the Paratrechina longicornis colony was budding again. For some reason it was happening more towards the right side of the wall.

 

My voice is low but I wasn't really saying anything important anyways.

 

 

And before all of this budding and flying, I found what is either a Platythyrea punctata or Pseudoponera stigma (but probably P. punctata) female alate on the harbourside, under a log. So that's a new species! I placed her in a test tube setup as I am interested in how she will fair. She still has her wings right now and has not laid any eggs so far.

 

I also did some documenting on the Spanish Wells Cemetery that day, which is shown in the first post.

 

7/17/17

HUGE Brachymyrmex obscurior flight in the evening, lots of which I hung around in the backyard for. This is probably the biggest nuptial flight I've seen in my life. The same colonies from the last flight flew, and more. There had to be at least 25-30 different colonies in my yard that swarmed and sent off alates. I was lucky enough to be outside for the brunt of it. There were hundreds of alates flying in the air, dealates on the ground, and mating pairs on high places. When I was videoing this one colony, the alates ready to take off would almost fly into my face. Also in the air, the females look a lot bigger than they are.

 

 

One of the swarming colonies found an Isopod apparently:

 

 

One queen that was mating had a mite on her:

 

 

I found this one dealate that had a Pheidole megacephala worker attacking her leg. I actually had no idea at first that the worker was right there when I picked up the small rock that the queen was on.

 

 

 

 

 

Other things I found that evening that are flight related:

 

A random, large male which I think was Camponotus in my yard. It was just staying on the side of a board.

 

 

A dealate queen wandering around the harbourside that I think was Dorymyrmex. She was trying to find cracks and what not, presumably to start her colony.

 

 

I went inside and called it a night at 8:00 PM when the flight was still going strong. So I might have missed the P. longicornis colony budding again.

 

Other random things I found that evening in the harbourside:

 

A strange ant colony in a driveway crack. They looked like Solenopsis at first sight, until you notice that they all look like majors. Weird. I might be overanalizing them though, and they are just Solenopsis.

 

 

 

Second, a few Odontomachus sp. workers foraging in front of a walkway to a house! I was surprised to find this genus.

 

 

I went inside and called it a night at 8:00 PM when the flight was still going strong. So I might have missed the P. longicornis colony budding again.

 

-----

 

Some overall observations:

 

I've been finding lots of Pheidole megacephala lately. They seem quite well established on the island and are common. They also forage in very large numbers. Sometimes I thought they were swarming with the amount of workers in their trails.

 

I've seen some occurences of Tapinoma melanocephalum here and there. Half the time they will be inside of a building, but I've also seen them in rural areas.

 

I've been seeing random Cardiocondyla cf. emeryi workers foraging by themselves. Only once in a while I see more than one together. They are quite random occurences and they seem very patchy in their distribution as far as I can tell.

 

 

Inland, I found a strange worker of some sort that was crawling on top of a wall:

 

 

---

I have barely been outside at all for the past day (7/18 or 7/19) so I could have missed anything really. That doesn't mean I couldn't find ants though! I found a female alate in the bathroom today. It looks like the same thing as the dead one I found in my house several days back. I think they are Pheidole megacephala queens.

 

Pheidole megacephala are pretty pestiferous. I'm finding workers in the house all the time.

Edited by Nathant2131, July 22 2017 - 4:49 PM.

[Nathant2131]

Vids of the big B. obscurior flight coming soon. Takes a while to upload to Youtube...

[Nathant2131]

Yesterday evening I took another walk. 

 

Evertime I take a walk, it seems like Pheidole megacephala are more and more established and angry. Some areas of the island are completely and utterly controlled and swarmed by them. They work extremely hard and the workers are super active around their nests. I always see countless dead and alive insects or insect pieces getting carried into their nests.

 

During the walk Brachymyrmex obscurior were teasing to fly once again (just a few males at the entrances), but it happened kind of late and it wasn't too noticable. They probably didn't end up flying. Some nests didn't even have them surface, and rather the males would just sit at the highest point of the nests. Here's a colony that I uncovered under a log:

 

 

I'm still finding delates from the past flights though. I even err... found a founding chamber. I got confused at the super tiny nest entrance, and got surprised when a queen came out. She would go in and out. I think she was building up her entrance or something like that:

 

 

I also found a colony of new ants under a log at harbourside. They looked like Cardiocondyla at first but they looked too fat and sculptured. Perhaps Tetramorium bicarinatum? About 2-3 mm:

 

 

And last but not least, I found another Camponotus male. It was under a log on the harbourside. looked identical to the other one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nathant2131]

Right *now* I'm observing this one B. obscurior colony sending out hundreds of workers and they are climbing the tree that the colony is at the base of. Looks like premature swarming.

[cpman]

Those could very well be Tetramorium bicarinatum. They look quite similar to the ones here. They've got the right body shape and coloration at least.

While I need to go back and re-measure one of my pinned ones, I think they're more like 3-4 mm, but that's not too different from your measurements.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are flying right around now or flew a couple weeks ago.

[Nathant2131]

Those could very well be Tetramorium bicarinatum. They look quite similar to the ones here. They've got the right body shape and coloration at least.

While I need to go back and re-measure one of my pinned ones, I think they're more like 3-4 mm, but that's not too different from your measurements.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are flying right around now or flew a couple weeks ago.

I can't think of anything else it could be. I think that's what they are.

[Nathant2131]

7/20/17

The "premature swarming" turned into another large flight.

 

The third video was the colony doing the early premature swarming.

 

 

 

 

 

One queen that was mating mid-air decided to land on my hand, and proceeded to shed her wings on me. (which you can see right at the beginning of the vid):

 

 

Cat encounter while taking a longer video :

 

 

-----

 

Some anting stuff:

 

Remember the tiny orange worker that I had no idea what it was? I found them twice more. Both occureneces was under debris, one a coconut at the beach and the other a log at the harbourside. Both times there was a dead insect and many workers eating it. So they might have been foraging underground rather than nesting?

 

The occurence on the harbourside under the log (I think the dead insect was a cockroach): 

 

 

The occurence at the beach under the coconut:

 

 

I now think that these are Temnothorax sp. I compared one of the country's native species on antweb and they looked strikingly similar, even for a dead specimen.

 

Paratrechina longicornis eating the head of something on the beach:

 

 

 

 

-----

So for the past 9 days I haven't been anting and was busy catching some big Tunas and Sharks on the boat.   I may have missed any flights. I did however catch another B. obscurior flight last night. I was doing some work with the boat though so it was only a quick observation.

 

I've been to different islands and stuff too and I've been seeing some Solenopsis sp. female alates here and there lately. I even found one floating in the water 100 ft off of land while I was swimming! I also found a black widow.

 

Also I caught about 3 more Pheidole megacephala winged queens in the bathroom 

 

Also been seeing a few random Camponotus males.

 

Get ready for some heavy anting starting now!

[Nathant2131]

Looks like B. obscurior either teased flying tonight, or the flight was very small. (I'm going with the latter)

Edited by Nathant2131, July 29 2017 - 4:26 PM.

[Jonathan21700]

I think that those small orange workers are Wasmannia auropunctata.

Edited by Jonathan21700, July 30 2017 - 2:56 PM.

[Nathant2131]

I think that those small orange workers are Wasmannia auropunctata.

I think you are exactly right.

Edited by Nathant2131, July 30 2017 - 4:06 PM.