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Hello from Arizona


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#1 Offline Xanuri - Posted January 24 2019 - 9:06 AM

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So I logged in and just kinda jumped into the mix but didn't do a formal intro. Figured I should maybe do that, since some of you are thinking...Who the !@#$ is that!?

 

Who I am:

 

Real Name: Stalling Hale

DOB: 25 MAR 1972

Location: Apache Junction, AZ (Just east of Metro Phoenix)

 

Ant History:

 

Well I would have to go back to my child hood as far as I can remember growing up in Selma, AL. My first introduction to ants I was still wearing diapers and sat down on a Solenopsis Invicta/Xyloni mound, I am pretty sure it was a match made in heaven after that!

 

Later as a kid who collected everything that could be caught in a backyard, a field, or at the creek...Ants have always been something I never grew out of, I am pretty sure it is because of all those stings I got while in diapers, they always make my Formicidae senses tingle!

 

My exposure to the species has been relatively limited, as a kid I kinda went with what was most common, of which I can identify all but two definitively.

 

  • Solenopsis Invicta
  • Solenopsis Xyloni
  • Monomorium minimum
  • Lasius neoniger or perhaps Lasius americanus
  • Formica biophilica (not sure on this one, was a light orange ant fairly decent sized was fairly translucent, no stinging)
  • Pheidole metallescens
  • Trachymyrmex septentrionalis
  • On a few occasions solid black carpenter ants, not sure of species

Back in the day it was find the largest sized pickle jar or at one point a 30 gal aquarium for them.

 

The most common and frequently caught for me was the first 4 on the list and the first two far exceeded any of the others in terms of availability. My method and technique was simple, dig into the mound and scoop all the queens and workers you could find, if of course there were queens to be found or gather up literally a few hundred after a nuptial flight as they roam around the yard looking for a place to start a colony.

 

One thing I never had patience for as a kid was waiting for a new queen to start her own, I always found a way to add workers from a neighboring colony and walla, and ant farm.

 

As I grew older and moved to California, ants kinda became a distant childhood memory and so life happened, including 6 years in the U.S. Navy, Marriage, Kids, Divorce, Marriage, and well here we are...I watched an AntsCanada video and my Formicidae senses went wild! The technology for keeping ants has changed drastically and the available options for formacariums is overwhelmingly awesome!

 

My Formicidae senses and the timing of this is just terrible as it is still "winter" and for the most part everything except a few REALLY SLOW moving Solenopsis Invicta workers I have located in my yard, there is nothing to satisfy my Formicidae senses!!! UGH!!

 

So, I am looking to purchase ants in Arizona so that I can at least get something going! So if you are here and you have a testube or small colony to sell or adopt, PLEASE let me know! Otherwise I am impatiently waiting for summer....is it here yet! and if you know anything about Arizona, we don't WANT summer to come faster than it normally does, however we would love to just skip over it and move straight to Monsoon Season!

 

Anywho, that's me in LARGE sized nutshell!

 

Formicidae senses are tingling,

Xanuri


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Current Ants:

C. CA02

C. fragilis

C. vicinus

M. mendax

N. cockerelli

V. pergandei


#2 Offline dspdrew - Posted January 24 2019 - 11:13 AM

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Welcome. :) Nice to see someone new who's actually older than me for once. :lol:



#3 Offline Xanuri - Posted January 24 2019 - 11:31 AM

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Thanks! I look forward to it!

 

I am not sure exactly what contributions I can make but hopefully some! Just let me know if there is anything specific!   (y)


Current Ants:

C. CA02

C. fragilis

C. vicinus

M. mendax

N. cockerelli

V. pergandei


#4 Offline ANTdrew - Posted January 24 2019 - 2:41 PM

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Welcome, Xanuri!
How old are you, Drew? I’m 36.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#5 Offline Klassien - Posted January 24 2019 - 3:38 PM

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Welcome to the forum! I see why you're impatient now, the winter seasons stink as there isn't much to do besides prepare for spring. 

 

KbGKbCg.png
 
As far as drew's legit age... :lol:

 

Spoiler

 


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#6 Offline Xanuri - Posted January 24 2019 - 3:41 PM

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Welcome, Xanuri!
How old are you, Drew? I’m 36.

Thanks


Current Ants:

C. CA02

C. fragilis

C. vicinus

M. mendax

N. cockerelli

V. pergandei


#7 Offline Xanuri - Posted January 24 2019 - 3:43 PM

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Welcome to the forum! I see why you're impatient now, the winter seasons stink as there isn't much to do besides prepare for spring. 

 

KbGKbCg.png
 
As far as drew's legit age... :lol:

 

Thanks for the warm welcome! Yeah I am IMPATIENTLY waiting on some fellow Zonies to get on and sell me a queen or colony to get started with!!!! LMAO

 


Current Ants:

C. CA02

C. fragilis

C. vicinus

M. mendax

N. cockerelli

V. pergandei


#8 Offline Leo - Posted January 24 2019 - 3:50 PM

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Welcome!



#9 Offline Xanuri - Posted January 24 2019 - 7:23 PM

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Welcome!

 

Thank You!


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Current Ants:

C. CA02

C. fragilis

C. vicinus

M. mendax

N. cockerelli

V. pergandei


#10 Online Zeiss - Posted January 24 2019 - 9:12 PM

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Welcome to the forum!  AZ has great ant diversity.



#11 Offline Guy_Fieri - Posted January 24 2019 - 9:16 PM

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Welcome, have fun! And make sure you're ready for a queen, nuptial flights can start in winter.



#12 Offline Xanuri - Posted January 25 2019 - 1:06 PM

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Welcome to the forum!  AZ has great ant diversity.

 

That is what I keep hearing! I suppose I haven't really been paying attention since I have lived here, but very anxious now!!!


Welcome, have fun! And make sure you're ready for a queen, nuptial flights can start in winter.

 

Other than the Winter Ant?


Current Ants:

C. CA02

C. fragilis

C. vicinus

M. mendax

N. cockerelli

V. pergandei


#13 Offline Manitobant - Posted January 25 2019 - 5:02 PM

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Welcome to the forum!  AZ has great ant diversity.

 
That is what I keep hearing! I suppose I haven't really been paying attention since I have lived here, but very anxious now!!!

Welcome, have fun! And make sure you're ready for a queen, nuptial flights can start in winter.

 
Other than the Winter Ant?

Yes, the guys over in SoCal which has the same climate as your area found lots of honeypot ant queens.

#14 Offline Xanuri - Posted January 28 2019 - 9:37 AM

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Welcome to the forum!  AZ has great ant diversity.

 
That is what I keep hearing! I suppose I haven't really been paying attention since I have lived here, but very anxious now!!!

Welcome, have fun! And make sure you're ready for a queen, nuptial flights can start in winter.

 
Other than the Winter Ant?

Yes, the guys over in SoCal which has the same climate as your area found lots of honeypot ant queens.

 

I have never had those before, but we have them here too! so hopefully one day I will get to try them out!


Current Ants:

C. CA02

C. fragilis

C. vicinus

M. mendax

N. cockerelli

V. pergandei


#15 Offline Manitobant - Posted January 28 2019 - 12:29 PM

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Here is a guide on the best ways to catch queens:http://www.formicult...tch-queen-ants/
And drew (the forum creator) has a guide to desert anting further down in the thread. The recent honeypots were located by digging up ant founding chambers (little funnels of dirt) with shovels. Using a blacklight or a mercury vapor bulb at night can also lure in queens and during monsoon season things will start to get crazy. Blacklights can be bought at any local party store and the more powerful mercury vapor bulbs can be bought at pet stores where they are used as heating lamps for reptiles. These lights can also be bought off sites like eBay if you can’t find one elsewhere. Lifting rocks can also yield queens and after a nuptial flight you can find tons under a single one. Even if nuptial flights haven’t occurred in a while you can still find some queens as in December I was able to locate two solenopsis queens in Palm Springs, CA. In case you don’t know where to look for queens, here are some of the best spots in and around the valley of the sun:

1. Phoenix Sonoran preserve

2. South mountain park

3. Phoenix mountains preserve

4. Tonto national forest (here you can find non desert species like camponotus, Formica and temnothorax)

5. White tank mountains regional park (this park has some mid elevation areas where you can find some of the above species)

Bonus:

1. Organ pipe cactus national monument (the best place in Arizona for anting because here and only here you can find atta mexicana, a leafcutting species that puts the locally common acromyrmex versicolor to shame

2. Chiricahua mountains (the best mountainous area for anting in Arizona with lots of unique species)
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#16 Offline Xanuri - Posted January 28 2019 - 1:50 PM

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Thanks for the info!

 

I located about 20 S. invicta colonies around my house on Saturday (2019.01.26) I very much look forward to their nuptial flights this season. I don't know why but they are one of my favorite ants! I will certainly be on the prowl now that my Formicidae senses are tingling. I live up against the Mountains near wolverine pass and not very far from Superstition Mountain. Just south of me are some very large state lands that we go horseback riding in, I plan on taking a hike in and around where I live to see what I can find! This year will likely be spent doing a lot of founding of colonies, I am hoping by next year I can be up to speed somewhat and be able to offer ants to others in the state! I know it might take a little longer than that but we will see!


Current Ants:

C. CA02

C. fragilis

C. vicinus

M. mendax

N. cockerelli

V. pergandei


#17 Offline Manitobant - Posted January 29 2019 - 8:44 AM

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Those “invicta” are probably solenopsis xyloni, a related species that is native rather than invasive. Don’t worry though as they have the same traits as their invasive cousins. Invicta has yet to invade Arizona which is why I know they aren’t invicta.

#18 Offline Xanuri - Posted January 29 2019 - 9:26 AM

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I wouldn't be so sure about that, what is the best way to distinguish them apart? once I get my macro lens for my phone I can get you some pics.

 

from what I have read, they also inter-breed, one article even suggested that in Texas the S. xyloni have been eradicated by S. invicta


Edited by Xanuri, January 29 2019 - 9:40 AM.

Current Ants:

C. CA02

C. fragilis

C. vicinus

M. mendax

N. cockerelli

V. pergandei


#19 Offline Manitobant - Posted January 29 2019 - 12:32 PM

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I wouldn't be so sure about that, what is the best way to distinguish them apart? once I get my macro lens for my phone I can get you some pics.

from what I have read, they also inter-breed, one article even suggested that in Texas the S. xyloni have been eradicated by S. invicta

it’s easy to confuse the two as the xyloni native to the valley of the sun are the dark form, which is the exact same as the normal form except for color.

Here is a link to a thread on how to tell the difference between invicta and xyloni:http://www.formicult...-and-s-invicta/

Here is a blog with pictures of the xyloni in the valley:http://blog.wildabou...thern-fire-ant/

And here is an article from the Arizona-Sonora desert museum detailing the potential impacts Invicta may have if it becomes established in Arizona:https://www.desertmu...ers_fireant.php(this article also has the proof that RIFA has not yet invaded Arizona)

Edited by Manitobant, January 29 2019 - 12:33 PM.


#20 Offline Xanuri - Posted January 29 2019 - 2:28 PM

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I wouldn't be so sure about that, what is the best way to distinguish them apart? once I get my macro lens for my phone I can get you some pics.

from what I have read, they also inter-breed, one article even suggested that in Texas the S. xyloni have been eradicated by S. invicta

it’s easy to confuse the two as the xyloni native to the valley of the sun are the dark form, which is the exact same as the normal form except for color.

Here is a link to a thread on how to tell the difference between invicta and xyloni:http://www.formicult...-and-s-invicta/

Here is a blog with pictures of the xyloni in the valley:http://blog.wildabou...thern-fire-ant/

And here is an article from the Arizona-Sonora desert museum detailing the potential impacts Invicta may have if it becomes established in Arizona:https://www.desertmu...ers_fireant.php(this article also has the proof that RIFA has not yet invaded Arizona)

 

 

I am looking into it, I captured a few majors from a colony near my back porch, I have a macro lens coming tomorrow, so hopefully I will be able to check for the presence of the  Median clypeal tooth!


Current Ants:

C. CA02

C. fragilis

C. vicinus

M. mendax

N. cockerelli

V. pergandei





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