4 replies to this topic

[rdurham02]

1.) Lightly wooded hiking trail in South Portland, Maine

2.) Today (5/16/18) around 11:00 AM

3.) Found running down trail in a meadow/field adjoining two more densely wooded areas

4.) 5-6 mm

5.) Orangish red with dark red, shiny gaster. Heavily sculpted head/thorax. 

6.) Two petiole nodes; no propodeal spines.

7.) Looks semi-claustral 

8.) Found another small colony of same ant with multiple queens underneath a rock in a different part of the trail, so assuming polygyne.

9.) Not sure if it was a flight, or if this queen was a rejected from a resident colony. 

 

 

I originally suspected this to be a member queen of Myrmica sp.. but the lack of distinguishing propodeal spines confused me. This queen is definitely similar in size to M. rubra queens that I had caught last year. 

Edited by rdurham02, May 16 2018 - 9:45 AM.

[VoidElecent]

I am fairly certain your queen is Myrmica, although some clearer photographs, if possible, would definitely do the trick. If she is Myrmica sp., identification to the species level will be nearly impossible.

 

Chances are, given the semi-claustral nature of Myrmica, she flew last year and was caught while foraging for her young colony. You can try to re-found her, if you wish; my brother and I attempted to do so with two Myrmica queens last April, and now each of them has over 80 workers and their colonies are thriving. Remember, Myrmica are semi-claustral and will need to be feed soft-bodied arthropods, such as fruit flies, on a regular basis.

[T.C.]

I wonder why I mix up Aphaenogaster sp. and Myrmica sp. so much

 

Cuz I was gonna say this was Aphaenogaster sp.

[Canadian anter]

This looks exactly as the Myrmica rubra in my area. I know these aren't reliable, but they match exactly

[rdurham02]

Thanks! I was definitely leaning toward Myrmica   May put her under my scope to try and get some better pics...