6 replies to this topic

[Stringweasel]

Good day everyone!

 

I've been wanting to get into ants for a while now, and finally took the leap today. I caught ants in my backyard, I think I got the queen(s) (explained later). I hope you could help me identify what I caught, and if I indeed catch the queen. This is my first post, so if it's missing anything, or if I could give more information, please tell me. I'm eager to learn!

 

I found the ants underneath a largish rock. I saw the ants walking around it, lifted it, and see a very large colony of ants. My guess is I saw 1000 ants easily. I tried to see where the ants seem to be in a larger concentration (my hope is that that's where the queen is), took a large shovel, and move a large chunk of dirt into a large container. I then sifted through the dirt in the container looking for queen looking ants (I have done a little research on what to look for). I could clearly see the distinction between the workers and solders (photos will follow). I then found an ant, with a bigger butt (sorry about the lingo) and thorax, and who seemed to have wing scars. I got excited, and thought I found the queen. Problem is, I found at least 10 other ants looking exactly the same. Some with wings, some without. 

 

So my main question is if I found the queen? And secondly, it would be amazing if someone could identify the species.

 

Here is an description of the ants:

 

All the ants have a dark orange/redish colour.

 

Queen (or the ones I think are queens):

•  

• Roughly 6mm long (0.24 inches)

• Seems to stay near the brood, not walking around outside much.

• Hides mostly. Once the little nest I made settled I couldn't see them anymore. They are chilling underneath little stones with the brood.

• Found at least 10 of them

• Found some with wings, found some without.

• Their size and shape were very distinct from the rest

 

 

 

Solders:

•  

• Slightly larger than workers at about 4 mm long. (0.157 inches)

• Constant size

• Big heads. The rest of the body is almost as big as the workers.

• Walks around between the workers.

 

 

 

Workers:

•  

• About 1.5 to 2mm long (0.079 inches)

• Constant size

• Head and butt very dark, and thorax lighter orange/red

 

 

 

Princes:

 

I do think I found one prince. He was longer and slimmer than the apparent queens, but I lost him before I could take a photo.

 

I attached a few photos of the ants. I'm sorry for the bad quality. Unfortunately I only have a camera phone with me.

 

Does someone know if I caught the correct ants?

 

Thank you so much for your help!

 

Hein

[Spamdy]

Pheidole cf. megacephala

Edited by Spamdy, September 16 2018 - 5:55 AM.

[Nare]

Yeah, it looks like you did find a queen. This species may have multiple queens in a colony, and the queens with wings will be unmated queens that will fly later in the year to mate and start their own colonies. As long as you keep the queen without wings with some workers, you should have a colony going in no time.

[Stringweasel]

Pheidole cf. megacephala

 

That seems to be it! Red ants. Multiple fertile queens. Thanks!

 

If you don't mind I have another question. I caught quite a number of ants/queens. But this is my first colony, so I would like to keep it small. Can I take only 1 queen and 20 workers from this colony, and start a new one? Will they survive? 

[Stringweasel]

Yeah, it looks like you did find a queen. This species may have multiple queens in a colony, and the queens with wings will be unmated queens that will fly later in the year to mate and start their own colonies. As long as you keep the queen without wings with some workers, you should have a colony going in no time.

 

Thanks for your help! It's really appreciated!

 

So are you saying I could only take one queen and a few workers, and they will still survive? Don't they grow reliant on the large colony?

[Spamdy]

 

Pheidole cf. megacephala

 

That seems to be it! Red ants. Multiple fertile queens. Thanks!

 

If you don't mind I have another question. I caught quite a number of ants/queens. But this is my first colony, so I would like to keep it small. Can I take only 1 queen and 20 workers from this colony, and start a new one? Will they survive? 

 

Possibly, in my experience, most colonies won't adapt fast enough, but since they are an invasive species and you already have many queens/workers, its well worth a try.

[Gabraime]

I recomend you to keep more queens as possible, sometimes queens can die for sickness or other reasons. Get rid of workers.