1. Location of collection: Trabuco Canyon, Corona, California, USA
2. Date of collection: 7-7-2018
3. Habitat of collection: Riparian (I believe so.)
4. Length: 16-17mm Queen. 16mm Major.
5. Coloration: Queen: Satin black head with antennae that start black at the head then end off reddish-brown after the bend. Top half of thorax satin black, then bottom half fades into an reddish-brown. First segments of legs connected to thorax are reddish-orange, then fade into brownish-black. Top of gaster is more brown then sides and bottom fade into orange.
Major: Satin black head with antennae that start black at the head then end off reddish-brown after the bend. Top half of thorax satin black, then bottom half fades into an reddish-brown. First segments of legs connected to thorax are reddish-black, then fade into brownish-black. Petiole is reddish-black. Gaster is reddish-black.
6. Distinguishing characteristics: Queen: Erect orange hairs on top of head, none on sides. Erect orange hairs on top of thorax. Erect orange hairs on gaster, gradually getting longer to the tip.
Major: Erect orange hairs on top of head, none on sides. Erect orange hairs on thorax. Erect orange hairs on petiole. Erect orange hairs on gaster. Almost all hairs on the major are at least 1mm in length.
7. Nest description: Base of tree (not sure of tree species, but it wasn't any type of pine), more-so in the dirt was the entrance I saw.
8. Nuptial flight time and date: Unsure as all queens collected were landing on the floor, but no males were seen. Thinking all queens are infertile and were purged from the nests as they did not fly when the nuptial flights happened.
All the following images are of the queen and the last one is of a major in the pupal stage that I removed from it's cocoon. I will be uploading images of the matured majors within the next day or so.
