460 replies to this topic

[ken14400]

 

 

 

i found absolutely nothing in Mississauga for like an hour of searching XD

Where were you looking?

 

prenolepsis imparis

I mean was the area you were searching like? You mentioned you were surrounded by buildings, that may impact the kinds of species you can find.

 

i went to the parks near my area

[rbarreto]

 

 

 

 

i found absolutely nothing in Mississauga for like an hour of searching XD

Where were you looking?

 

prenolepsis imparis

I mean was the area you were searching like? You mentioned you were surrounded by buildings, that may impact the kinds of species you can find.

 

i went to the parks near my area

 

Well since I'm new to this hobby I can't say for certain how well ants are distributed throughout cities. I would guess that even though you are in a park you may be feeling the effects of habitat fragmentation. Since the park you visited is isolated from other habitats, the species richness is likely much lower and the ants in the park may only be the kind that can survive in/distribute through urban conditions. I am no expert on Prenolepis imparis so I cannot say how they would fair in that setting. That being said, if they are in the park it could just be that you did not look for long enough, it was still too cold outside, or possible you were looking in the wrong places. You may have more luck today as the weather network predicts higher temperatures. 

 

More on habitat fragmentation: 

http://www.els.net/W...d-a0021904.html

[Canadian anter]

Prenolepis imparis  is found in hardwood forests

[ken14400]

Prenolepis imparis  is found in hardwood forests

oh don't think there's much of those here

[rbarreto]

While hoping to find Prenolepis imparis during lunch I decided to flip some rocks and logs over and in a short period of time managed to discover quite a variety of species. I found what I believe to be Stigmatomma pallipes, several Solenopsis sp. and a few Formica sp.

 

*EDIT*  I also found a species which I have now identified as Tapinoma sessile

Edited by rbarreto, April 23 2018 - 11:12 AM.

[ken14400]

you don't have to rub your luck in my face you know     

[rbarreto]

But I didn't get anything either   

[ken14400]

at least you found a colony i can't even find worker ants here

[Lazarus]

I've brought up the disparity in ant databases before in this thread:  http://www.formicult...web-or-antwiki/

 

Antweb.org says no Prenolepis Imparis in Ontario while antmaps.org say they are local.  I do think that with a province as large as Ontario even if a particular ant does reside here, it certainly won't be found everywhere in the province. But the species variety would change more between north/south than east/west as do the climate differences. For those of us closer to Quebec (me!) another indicator would be to see if that province listed a species. Still no sure way to know unless someone actually caught a species in your area.

[Canadian anter]

Antweb is both incomplete and outdated. I think it's better to use something like Antmaps 

[ken14400]

has anyone found any new queens lately?

[rbarreto]

I found what I believe to be 3 Lasius umbratus queens today. The weird thing is they were all huddled under the same rock together and appear to be very friendly with each other. I feel as though a parasitic species would not be polygynous, they may decide to just kill each other who knows. It is possible I got the ID wrong but they look exactly like the pictures on antwiki.  I'll keep them all in the same test tube for now.

Edited by rbarreto, April 24 2018 - 11:32 AM.

[ken14400]

I found what I believe to be 3 Lasius umbratus queens today. The weird thing is they were all huddled under the same rock together and appear to be very friendly with each other. I feel as though a parasitic species would not be polygynous, they may decide to just kill each other who knows. It is possible I got the ID wrong but they look exactly like the pictures on antwiki.  I'll keep them all in the same test tube for now.

nice i still havent found anything XD

[rbarreto]

I'm lucky because I work around a huge forest that also used to be a quarry so the place is filled with small rocks that I can flip over. Almost every single rock I flip over has a colony under it. I kinda hate doing this though because I hate destroying their homes. Hopefully May is kinder with nuptial flights.

[ken14400]

I'm lucky because I work around a huge forest that also used to be a quarry so the place is filled with small rocks that I can flip over. Almost every single rock I flip over has a colony under it. I kinda hate doing this though because I hate destroying their homes. Hopefully May is kinder with nuptial flights.

mail/ship me some ant please...

[rbarreto]

 

I'm lucky because I work around a huge forest that also used to be a quarry so the place is filled with small rocks that I can flip over. Almost every single rock I flip over has a colony under it. I kinda hate doing this though because I hate destroying their homes. Hopefully May is kinder with nuptial flights.

mail/ship me some ant please...

 

I believe Canadian anter is looking to sell and he is much closer to you, maybe you guys can work something out.

[ken14400]

 

 

I'm lucky because I work around a huge forest that also used to be a quarry so the place is filled with small rocks that I can flip over. Almost every single rock I flip over has a colony under it. I kinda hate doing this though because I hate destroying their homes. Hopefully May is kinder with nuptial flights.

mail/ship me some ant please...

 

I believe Canadian anter is looking to sell and he is much closer to you, maybe you guys can work something out.

 

i did buy some from him

[ken14400]

has anyone found any prenolepsis imparis yet?

[Lazarus]

I'm lucky because I work around a huge forest that also used to be a quarry so the place is filled with small rocks that I can flip over. Almost every single rock I flip over has a colony under it. I kinda hate doing this though because I hate destroying their homes. Hopefully May is kinder with nuptial flights.

 

Were is this place? I wish I had that kind of luck. Spent over an hour last weekend with son flipping rocks, rolling logs, checking under lose bark and ... nothing.

With the rain these past two days tomorrow may be flight day but I won't have much time to look.

[rbarreto]

 

I'm lucky because I work around a huge forest that also used to be a quarry so the place is filled with small rocks that I can flip over. Almost every single rock I flip over has a colony under it. I kinda hate doing this though because I hate destroying their homes. Hopefully May is kinder with nuptial flights.

 

Were is this place? I wish I had that kind of luck. Spent over an hour last weekend with son flipping rocks, rolling logs, checking under lose bark and ... nothing.

With the rain these past two days tomorrow may be flight day but I won't have much time to look.

 

Due to the nature of my work I can't reveal that information (not accessible to the public anyways). But! If you want to go to a place that is guaranteed to have some ants, there is a park called Stony swamp which is host to the social parasite Lasius minutus. They build huge mounds so they are easy to find.

 

Here's a map of how to get to the mounds:

Edited by rbarreto, April 27 2018 - 11:14 AM.