5 replies to this topic

[fdiwen]

1. Location of collection (ie: park/area, city/town, state/province, country). You can be more specific here than in the title, but please include the information in the title here as well.

2. Date of collection (more important for ID's of queens).
3. Habitat of collection (ie: desert scrub, oak forest, riparian, etc.).
4. Length (to the nearest millimeter or 1/16th of an inch.) Millimeters is preferred. Length is measured from the tip of the head to the tip of the gaster, excluding antennae, legs and stingers. Do not estimate, use a ruler! No matter how good you think you are at guessing the length of something, it's amazing how far off you can be sometimes.
5. Coloration, hue, pattern and texture (ie: dark redish-orange head, velvet-like gaster, translucent, hairy/bald, shiny/dull, etc.). Be as specific as possible, and you can use the diagram below if you need it.
6. Distinguishing characteristics (ie: one petiole node/two petiole nodes, length and orientation of any spines or bumps on the thorax or waist, head shape, eye size, shape of mandibles, number of antennal segments, etc.)
7. Anything else distinctive (ie: odor, behavior, characteristics relative to others in the colony, etc.).
8. Nest description (if you can find the nest, and you're sure it belongs to the ant you collected) (ie: rotted log, volcano-shaped mound of coarse gavel 10cm in diameter, etc.).

9. Nuptial flight time and date (if you witnessed the ant or it's colony having a nuptial flight or caught an alate you are confident was flying that day or time)
10 . Post the clearest pictures possible of the top, side, and face of the ant in question, and if possible, their nest and the habitat they were collected in.

 

https://photos.app.g...jobpcz8xTPR9BM8

https://photos.app.g...6DaNa9wvQFFsJKA

 

edit: remove failed image embedding and my bad guess as to ID.

Edited by fdiwen, July 6 2018 - 8:15 AM.

[Aaron567]

Camponotus.. hard to tell what species.

[AntsAreUs]

Camponotus snellingi

[fdiwen]

Aaron567 and AntsAreUs - I'm not trying to question you, but to learn.

 

Are you ID'ing as Camponotus based on the double petiole nodes?  I was initially guessing Formica based on coloration and the fact that other keepers only miles away were catching them this week - but I now notice the petiole differences between the Formica and Camponotus.

 

I'll have to get a macro lens for better pictures - but sayi, decipiens, and snellingi all have similar coloration.  Based on location, it seems that decipiens is most likely.  I may go ahead and label it as such (with a question mark) and hold out for workers and a macro lens.

[AntsBC]

Usually you can tell it is Camponotus by the head and thorax-hump. Once you get better at ID you just know it is Camponotus. Its hard to explain.

Edited by AntsBC, July 6 2018 - 11:07 AM.

[AntsAreUs]

Aaron567 and AntsAreUs - I'm not trying to question you, but to learn.

 

Are you ID'ing as Camponotus based on the double petiole nodes?  I was initially guessing Formica based on coloration and the fact that other keepers only miles away were catching them this week - but I now notice the petiole differences between the Formica and Camponotus.

 

I'll have to get a macro lens for better pictures - but sayi, decipiens, and snellingi all have similar coloration.  Based on location, it seems that decipiens is most likely.  I may go ahead and label it as such (with a question mark) and hold out for workers and a macro lens.

My bad, My C. snellingi could be wrong (sort of just rushed it). The main difference between Formica and Camponotus is Camponotus have a convex thorax and Formica have a concave thorax. This isn't as easily told in queens, but Camponotus normally have large heads in comparison to the thorax, whereas Formica don't normally. If the ant has 2 petiole nodes then it would be in the subfamily Myrmicinae or something else.

Edited by AntsAreUs, July 6 2018 - 11:05 AM.