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Southern California Anting


2447 replies to this topic

#801 Offline dspdrew - Posted June 11 2017 - 9:40 AM

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  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Aside from the random flights of smaller species in the foothills every time we have a heatwave, it's mostly just desert mating flights left now. Those queens are fairly easy to catch, since most don't fly until it rains pretty good, and they can be dug up for a few days after.

 

One of the exceptions is Camponotus fragilis. I have only caught those while they were running around at night, and not from founding chambers. Most are only around bushes, and they will fly with a very small amount of rain. The one time I caught Novomessor cockerelli, we never really saw any of them digging nests either; they all just seemed to vanish once the sun came up.



#802 Offline kudofo - Posted June 11 2017 - 11:25 AM

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Aside from the random flights of smaller species in the foothills every time we have a heatwave, it's mostly just desert mating flights left now. Those queens are fairly easy to catch, since most don't fly until it rains pretty good, and they can be dug up for a few days after.

 

One of the exceptions is Camponotus fragilis. I have only caught those while they were running around at night, and not from founding chambers. Most are only around bushes, and they will fly with a very small amount of rain. The one time I caught Novomessor cockerelli, we never really saw any of them digging nests either; they all just seemed to vanish once the sun came up.

 

I was thinking of making a few of those 5 gallon bucket traps with a brew funnel and one of those UV led flash lights. I just didn't want to miss out this year :) Just watch for rain next month ?


Edited by kudofo, June 11 2017 - 11:26 AM.

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#803 Offline Tmhernandez77 - Posted June 12 2017 - 6:44 PM

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Not sure what they are, but there are tons of colonies with alates swarming at the entrances in Wildwood Open Space (Thousand Oaks, CA). They are definitely red with a dark brown or black gaster, my guess is Pogonomyrmex californicus bicolor but I'm new to this, can't be sure.
 

IMG 20170612 192446431

 


Edited by Tmhernandez77, June 13 2017 - 8:21 AM.

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Veromessor pergandei - Liometopum occidentale - Solenopsis xyloni - Unknown species


#804 Offline soulsynapse - Posted June 12 2017 - 8:19 PM

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Pictures mate!


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#805 Offline Tmhernandez77 - Posted June 13 2017 - 8:22 AM

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Pictures mate!

 

Here's a couple pictures, I have a terrible phone, sorry about potato quality.


Veromessor pergandei - Liometopum occidentale - Solenopsis xyloni - Unknown species


#806 Offline soulsynapse - Posted June 13 2017 - 11:14 AM

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Great photos!
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#807 Offline CallMeCraven - Posted June 13 2017 - 11:18 AM

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I use to see those all the time as a kid growing up in Valley Center... just think of all the opportunities I missed as a kid living in SoCal who didn't care abut ants...


Current Colony:

 

4x Camponotus (hyatti?)

 

 

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#808 Offline soulsynapse - Posted June 13 2017 - 11:58 AM

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I think they're solenopsis xyloni.


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#809 Offline dspdrew - Posted June 13 2017 - 8:47 PM

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  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Yeah it's S. xyloni. As soon as it's warm enough at dusk, they should all fly.



#810 Offline dspdrew - Posted June 13 2017 - 9:25 PM

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  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

I think I'm going to try my black light in the canyon tomorrow.


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#811 Offline Tmhernandez77 - Posted June 14 2017 - 8:21 AM

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Hmm, I'm not too interested in a Solenopsis xyloni, is there any chance they are polygenous?  I don't have any multi-queen colonies, would be a new experience for me.


Veromessor pergandei - Liometopum occidentale - Solenopsis xyloni - Unknown species


#812 Offline Tmhernandez77 - Posted June 14 2017 - 6:07 PM

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They are flying now! Too bad I brought 10 tubes, I could have got hundreds!!!

Edited by Tmhernandez77, June 14 2017 - 6:15 PM.

Veromessor pergandei - Liometopum occidentale - Solenopsis xyloni - Unknown species


#813 Offline Tmhernandez77 - Posted June 16 2017 - 4:18 PM

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Here's my haul from the Solenopsis xyloni flight the other day.  I think they are going to be flying for the next several days near me, I may try to get a few extra colonies to sell if anyone is interested.  I have 8 setup in individual test tubes, one test tube is an experiment with two queens.  The two queens are currently not aggressive towards eachother, I imagine that will change when the first workers come though.  I put a drop of sugar water in about 7 of the test tubes, just to make sure the queens have a bit of energy. 

All 10 queens

4490
4489
 
A couple closeups of an individual
4488
4487

 

No eggs yet, but it's only been a couple days so I'm not too worried.

 

Again, these were flying in Thousand Oaks, in Wildwood open space.  There was so many, when we got in our car we were picking alates off of our clothes.


Veromessor pergandei - Liometopum occidentale - Solenopsis xyloni - Unknown species


#814 Offline Tmhernandez77 - Posted June 24 2017 - 8:03 PM

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Fairly certain Solenopsis molesta were flying tonight in Thousand Oaks, CA at Cal Lutheran University.  They are tiny little yellow queens, the males were dark brown, almost black.  I'm still trying to confirm the ID.


Veromessor pergandei - Liometopum occidentale - Solenopsis xyloni - Unknown species


#815 Offline soulsynapse - Posted July 1 2017 - 10:05 PM

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3+ inches rain forecast for end of next week, here's to hoping it stays true


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#816 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 2 2017 - 12:52 PM

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3+ inches rain forecast for end of next week, here's to hoping it stays true

 

Where on Earth are you seeing this?


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#817 Offline soulsynapse - Posted July 2 2017 - 5:56 PM

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3+ inches rain forecast for end of next week, here's to hoping it stays true

 

Where on Earth are you seeing this?

 

 

https://www.ventusky...c&t=20170708/00


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#818 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 2 2017 - 8:33 PM

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3+ inches rain forecast for end of next week, here's to hoping it stays true

 

Where on Earth are you seeing this?

 

 

https://www.ventusky...c&t=20170708/00

 

 

That's pretty weird. Everything I'm looking at is showing a small chance of some rain in the mountains and deserts later next week. These of course are isolated thunderstorms, so I guess it is possible one could drop that much rain in a tiny area, but I doubt it. Hopefully we do get a decent storm from this moisture somewhere out there. It almost always happens around the first week of July.



#819 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 5 2017 - 3:39 AM

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At this point it's looking like a pretty good chance of a storm or two somewhere in the southern deserts like Borrego Springs some time around Sunday. Good thing I'm taking Wednesday off. :)



#820 Offline nurbs - Posted July 5 2017 - 11:14 AM

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Dunno how soaked the ground will be, but there has been a fast moving cloud of precipitation that started on the eastern side of the Salton Sea and has quickly moved its way up north into the main central road of Joshua Tree.

 

Need a confirmation of how wet the area will be, might go tonight.

 

UMZ4azjl.jpg

 

rsvwDEcl.jpg

 

UPDATE: 12:20

 

1xZd5Zdl.jpg

 

UPDATE 2, headings towards 29 palms:

 

CTx6uH8l.jpg

 

UPDATE 3:

 

Might drive into that area tonight, do some night anting and stay til the next day. See what has flown. Could very well come back with nothing, but the rain looks heavy enough in some parts.


Edited by nurbs, July 5 2017 - 12:30 PM.

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Unidentified Myrmecocystus

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Camponotus or Colobopsis yogi:

https://www.formicul...a-ca-1-28-2018/

 
Camponotus us-ca02
https://www.formicul...onotus-us-ca02/

 

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https://www.formicul...l-ca-6-27-2020/

 
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