10 replies to this topic

[rbarreto]

1. Location (on a map) of collection: Central Ottawa, Ontario.
2. Date of collection: 16-07-2018 at 8 PM
3. Habitat of collection: At a bus stop in near some constuction
4. Length (from head to gaster): 10 mm
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: Black head, thorax, gaster and some reddish legs. Some fine hairs on gaster and head. 
6. Distinguishing characteristics: Silver band on her gaster.
7. Distinguishing behavior: She does the same thing as the other Formica queen I recently caught and stays perfectly still.
8. Nest description: N/A

9. Nuptial flight time and date: Managed to find her while it was raining.

 

I know these are hard to ID and my pictures are definitely not good enough but some guesses would be appreciated. So far I'm thinking Formica subaenescens or subsericea.

 

 

 

 

Edited by rbarreto, July 17 2018 - 4:15 AM.

[Lazarus]

These were the same queens I caught on Sunday in Ottawa. But your pictures are much better than mine! I did not notice any fine hair on the gasters but I will check again and with a magnifying glass this time.

[rbarreto]

Yea I saw your ID thread, I don't think they are the same species though. Your queens gaster is very shiny with little to no hair and her legs seem to be black.

[Lazarus]

Yea I saw your ID thread, I don't think they are the same species though. Your queens gaster is very shiny with little to no hair and her legs seem to be black.

 

Hmmm. My gasters are fairly shiny for sure. Legs are black but they are distinctly reddish right at the joints which seemed the case in some of your pics.

But I think you are correct because the antennae on yours clearly seem to be red whereas mine are black.

 

Will try to sit down tonight and really give mine a good look. Actually have a great big professional Microscope that I used in my early anting days to check my ants that I haven't used in a while. Great if you can get them to stand still for a moment.

[AnthonyP163]

I may be wrong, and I believe we'll need better pictures to be 100% sure, but this looks like Formica glacialis to me.

[rbarreto]

Thanks for the guess! What exatcly made you think Formica glacialis? I can try to get better pictures (still trying to figure out lighting and angles) but what exactly do you need pictures of?

[AnthonyP163]

Thanks for the guess! What exatcly made you think Formica glacialis? I can try to get better pictures (still trying to figure out lighting and angles) but what exactly do you need pictures of?

I looked through the key for Formica fusca  species group. 

 

"Body pilosity less abundant, particularly on pronotum, profemora and the first gastric tergite"

[rbarreto]

I decided to look at this key myself and after a while of comparing pictures out I think you are right. However I did manage to catch another queen and using the same key I think I can ID her as Formica subcericea. I'm guessing this because of:

 

"pubescence normal on the first three gastric tergites; pilosity of pronotum limited to median half of posterior margin; erect hairs varying from 0 to 10 (mean = 2) on the first gastric tergite exclusive of the posterior row"

 

Let me know if I'm right. Still trying to learn how to light properly in my pictures, I can't seem to get it right.

 

 

 

[Lazarus]

I tried to take pics with the microscope yesterday and wasn't very successful. But in doing so I got a much better look at the ones I captured and am now almost certain that they are the same. I noticed a reddish tinge on the antennae and hairs towards the rear of the gaster. You guys are clearly much better versed on the terminology and taxonomy than me so I hope these ants can be definitively identified. What I would really like to know is whether they are polygynous or not. As I have 5 I would like to group them into multi-queen colonies. (3-2 or 2-2-1). As I understand it some Formica are polygynous and some are not.
 

[rbarreto]

I don't really understand terminology and taxonomy either. I just used something like the picture below, the ID key, and the best pictures I could take. I would imagine you could do even better with a microscope.

 

Here is a link that shows taxa known to be polygynous: http://www.antwiki.o...gory:Polygynous

 

[Lazarus]

Thanks for that anatomy breakdown pic. Explains a few things.

 

But I do feel like a fool now that I found out Formica Fusca is but a grouping of species as per http://www.antwiki.o...es_groups#fusca

fusca

Distinguished by one or two offset teeth at the base of the mandibles.

Some North American species:

• Formica argentea
• Formica subsericea
• Formica glacialis
• Formica podzolica
• Formica subaenescens
• Formica neorufibarbis
• Formica hewitti

In essence you and AnthonyP163 are just trying to narrow down which Fusca in particular.

 

PS: Found another one tonight but once again did not really have the time to get a really good look at it and had other duties to tend to. Will try again to really inspect some of the details on all of these recent finds soon. I find that sunlight is best to really see detail and room lights, LED flashlights, etc really don't work well during evening observation.

 

Thanks for the info. Still so much to learn.