14 replies to this topic

[kellakk]

1. I  found these alates flying at dusk at lights next to the Algodones Dunes.  There's a little store on Hwy 78 that runs metal halide lights 24/7.  Since it's next to the desert, pretty much every insect gets attracted to the light.

2. 4-19-15
3. Sandy creosote scrub and dune habitat
4. ~10 mm
5. Red head and thorax, red-yellow gaster
6. 2 petioles, no spine. The eyes look pretty big to me, especially on the males.
7. 
8. These alates surprised me, since they were clearly Pogonomyrmex but the only Pogonomyrmex species I had seen was P. californicus (bicolor).
9 . 

 

I think these are Pogonomyrmex magnacanthus since they're smaller than the P. californicus workers I had seen running around near where I found these alates.  I caught both males and females, and I'm including pictures of the males so you can see what I'm talking about in terms of eyes.

Edited by kellakk, April 21 2015 - 7:28 AM.

[Foogoo]

Weird, so Pogonomyrmex are flying now huh. Maybe it's time for a desert trip.

[Chromerust]

Those are really cool! What you doing way out there?

[kellakk]

Those are really cool! What you doing way out there?

 

I was out on a collecting trip with some other insect collectors.  The dunes are a great place for cool critters, from wind scorpions to sand treaders to desert roaches etc.

[gcsnelling]

Pogonomyrmex magnacanthus looks about right, it is a rather common species out there in the dunes.

[dspdrew]

I was just going to say, one record on AntWeb is EXACTLY where you were. That's awesome. Another species to add to the mating chart.

[kellakk]

Great, so I was right! It's weird that I didn't see any P. magnacanthus colonies out there if they're so common.  

[dspdrew]

I never saw any that I knew of when I was there. I don't think I've ever even seen them before.

[kellakk]

I just read a little about this species, it's an asynchronous flier that usually flies for a few weeks.  So if anyone is dying to get a P. magnacanthus then they should still be flying out there and easily collected from the lights at the Glamis store.

[Gregory2455]

I would so go except for the fact that it is 250 miles from me.

I actually wanted some of these too...

[kellakk]

Yeah it's a bit of a drive. I only went because I was collecting other things too as part of a group trip.

[gcsnelling]

The colonies are very easy to miss due to their small size and very poorly developed mound. In the Glamis area they can be especially tricky due to the wind which usually blows away most if not all surface evidence of their presence.

[dspdrew]

i Just found some of these out past 29 Palms, and near the northeastern corner of Joshua Tree National Park as well. It's very sandy along Hwy 62 in that area, and the upper half of Hwy 177. At least now we have a slightly closer spot to go to next year to get some queens.

 

Edit: After looking at Antweb, I guess it's pretty obvious they are out there. One of the only three CA records on the map is exactly there.

Edited by dspdrew, July 4 2015 - 7:37 AM.

[kellakk]

That's great, that spot is way closer to me than Glamis.  Did you see any other ants out there? I'm wondering what else a blacklight might attract.

[dspdrew]

I found some Myrmecocystus kennedyi, like I found down in Anza Borrego. This time I saw the nest. I dug into it, but did not see any alates. I really want a queen of this species; they're so cool looking.