5 replies to this topic

[sirjordanncurtis]

So I was wondering if any of you anters out there have found ants that have been scientifically recognized as the same species, yet believe them to be different species. Some of us had discussed the prospects of multiple species of ants living in the North America that are currently under the name Prenolepis Imparis. People in New Jersey have reported 2 different types of P. Imparis which not only differ in their color, one being black, and another being bright orange, but also in their nesting behaviors. Other anters have also taken a step further within this hypothesis of multiple species of P. Imparis by simulating a somewhat natural environment for the breeding and nuptial flights of the imparis queens. It is noted that while the black and orange alates are able to mate and create a fertile colony with workers in the simulated environment, they don't really stick together. 

 

(Although a lot of the information is under the imparis queens, reports of other instances with different "species" are definitely welcome within this discussion!)

 

I put this topic in General Anting, and I'm not really sure whether it should be in this location or General. I decided since it was about finding these ants and somewhat researching them, it should be in anting. (Might be wrong though)

[YsTheAnt]

Interesting you bring this up. It is worth noting that the Prenolepis imparis native to the bay area is very different in reporductive behavior than it's eastern counterparts. While on a good day on the east coast, one might catch one every five to ten minutes, the ones in the Bay area fall out of the sky at 3+/min, and a good day can easily yield upwards of 50 queens.

It is also worth noting that based on what I have read, Prenolepis imparis is a lot more common in the Bay Area than in the Eastern US, or at least they have a much denser population. I live near a forest, and when I walk up a road that goes just into the outskirts, there is at least one nest every five feet, I kid you not. This is in the forest though. In my yard, I have at least 3, but not nearly as many as half a block away in the forest. I hear though (no garuntees, just based on other users' posts and sightings), that in the Eastern US, they are much less common.

To date, these are the differences I have noticed. Oh, and the color. The workers in my area are a very dark brown under light, and without string lighting are black. The queens tend to be light maroon, reddish with a tinge of orange, or brown here as well.

Edited by YsTheAnt, April 16 2018 - 10:35 PM.

[gcsnelling]

This is a pretty common situation.

[AnthonyP163]

Interesting you bring this up. It is worth noting that the Prenolepis imparis native to the bay area is very different in reporductive behavior than it's eastern counterparts. While on a good day on the east coast, one might catch one every five to ten minutes, the ones in the Bay area fall out of the sky at 3+/min, and a good day can easily yield upwards of 50 queens.

It is also worth noting that based on what I have read, Prenolepis imparis is a lot more common in the Bay Area than in the Eastern US, or at least they have a much denser population. I live near a forest, and when I walk up a road that goes just into the outskirts, there is at least one nest every five feet, I kid you not. This is in the forest though. In my yard, I have at least 3, but not nearly as many as half a block away in the forest. I hear though (no garuntees, just based on other users' posts and sightings), that in the Eastern US, they are much less common.

To date, these are the differences I have noticed. Oh, and the color. The workers in my area are a very dark brown under light, and without string lighting are black. The queens tend to be light maroon, reddish with a tinge of orange, or brown here as well.

MILTA has seen the pale variety in Southern NJ, which is likely Prenolepis imparis var. minuta, which there aren't really pictures for when you google them on the internet. If you catch one of these variants, you should really get them identified and post them on a thread, just to have it out there.

Another possibility of the variant MILTA saw having nuptial flights was var. testacea at first, but then I saw that the workers of these pale queens seemed to still be dark, which is a feature of var. minuta, while var. testacea has yellowish pale workers. It seems NJ has 3-5 variants, but out of all those known variants, minuta seemed to be the one MILTA encountered.

 

Either way, Prenolepis imparis is a very confusing species. Prenolepis nitens used to be a variant of Prenolepis imparis, until declared its own species.

[sirjordanncurtis]

I wonder if there are any foolproof ways to conduct tests with these variants to see whether they could mix together. It would be interesting to attempt to mate/breed or form a colony with the different variants and subspecies as further investigations. (perhaps some one who has found 2 variant of mated queens could attempt to put them in a colony, and see how the workers would react with each other pheromonally, as well as the overall communication between the two types of workers. 

[Serafine]

Subvariants and local differences are very common things for ants. There was a recent study about Tetramorium caespitum and T. impurum which revealed that Tetramorium caespitum/impurum is actually a species complex containing over 30 species. I'm very sure that if you'd do such a study for pretty much any other ant species you'd get similar results.