2450 replies to this topic

[nurbs]

 

 

Nothing flying in January

 

Really? I could have sworn P. imparis flew in January.

 

 

They do. But you were asking about the Mojave desert. Never seen them there before, but I could be mistaken.

[dspdrew]

In 2015 Veromessor pergandei flew the first week of February in Palm Desert. That was pretty damn close.

[gcsnelling]

In 2015 Veromessor pergandei flew the first week of February in Palm Desert. That was pretty damn close.

Gee now you're just splitting hairs.

[dspdrew]

 

In 2015 Veromessor pergandei flew the first week of February in Palm Desert. That was pretty damn close.

Gee now you're just splitting hairs.

 

 

Wasn't disputing you're post, just sharing what I thought was pretty amazing. That was obviously just the perfect storm... literally.

[AntsCalifornia]

 

 

 

Nothing flying in January

 

Really? I could have sworn P. imparis flew in January.

 

 

They do. But you were asking about the Mojave desert. Never seen them there before, but I could be mistaken.

 

Sorry, I'm new to this anting thing. Where would you find P. imparis? I just assumed since it was like honeypot ants it would be in the desert as well.

[dspdrew]

Sorry, I'm new to this anting thing. Where would you find P. imparis? I just assumed since it was like honeypot ants it would be in the desert as well.

They're found in the foothills and oak forests around here.

[AntsCalifornia]

 

Sorry, I'm new to this anting thing. Where would you find P. imparis? I just assumed since it was like honeypot ants it would be in the desert as well.

They're found in the foothills and oak forests around here.

 

Oh good, so maybe I could find them in my backyard.

[YsTheAnt]

They will be the only ant out in the cold December mornings of California... I did remember seeing a formica worker during a heat wave in November, but nothing else. My house is infested with P Imparis right now

[AntsCalifornia]

I have two questions about P. imparis. #1, are the queens attracted to black light, and #2, What time of day do they normally fly? 

[Derpy]

The queens aren't attracted to black light, but their mating swarms are easily visible. They normally fly in the evening to night time, or at least that is when I found my queen.

[dspdrew]

I have not seen a mating flight of P. imparis, but I am pretty sure they fly during the day here. The queens could be wondering around all the way into the night.

[YsTheAnt]

Yeah they fly only during the day, into evening. The swarms disappear by night, but you can still find queens wandering around

[dspdrew]

So all of Southern California got plenty of rain yesterday. I was looking at the weather we had last year, and most of January stayed very cool after any rain we got. This week it is supposed to warm up pretty good. It's funny because the weather this week is actually more favorable for mating flights than the weather was a month from now last year when the mating flights started. Too bad it's so early. I am however going to go out this weekend for one, because I just feel like going hiking, and two, I'm always looking for new interesting unexpected data for the mating chart. I'm curious to see if there is anything that could have possibly flown. Dorymyrmex wouldn't surprise me too much. I'm not really looking for them, but would love to get more data on their mating flights.

 

(Dorymyrmex joke from nurbs in 3... 2... 1...)

[nurbs]

So all of Southern California got plenty of rain yesterday. I was looking at the weather we had last year, and most of January stayed very cool after any rain we got. This week it is supposed to warm up pretty good. It's funny because the weather this week is actually more favorable for mating flights than the weather was a month from now last year when the mating flights started. Too bad it's so early. I am however going to go out this weekend for one, because I just feel like going hiking, and two, I'm always looking for new interesting unexpected data for the mating chart. I'm curious to see if there is anything that could have possibly flown. Dorymyrmex wouldn't surprise me too much. I'm not really looking for them, but would love to get more data on their mating flights.
 
(Dorymyrmex joke from nurbs in 3... 2... 1...)

Haha. Been in Vegas since Sunday for CES, and it also got lots of rains here and near the border. On the drive back I might look as well. How does one pass up Dorymyrmex? Those are gold. Very rare.

[dspdrew]

Wow.. am I good or what?

 

https://www.inatural...vations/9463647

 

Is this a record? I can't believe they flew this early! I'm pretty sure the queen posted in that link is actually Myrmecocystus creightoni and not P. imparis. That is the desert, and exactly where I was going to be heading later today. I figured the most likely day something could fly would be Saturday since the temps were supposed to jump up into the 80's. Now I'm really wondering if Veromessor pergandei could have flown too. The year I found them the first week of February, they were found right by there, and these honeypot ants flew the same time too.

 

I guess we'll see what I find.

[nurbs]

Will most likely head out tomorrow if Drew finds anything. Unless all he finds are Dorymyrmex.

[anttics]

any antting meets? for upcomming months

[dspdrew]

I drove out to Desert Hot Springs Sunday and dug up quite a few of the small dark brown honeypot ants that were posted in the link in my previous post. They're clearly an Eremnocystus species, and one I have found before. Back when I had them, I keyed them out to what I thought was M. creightoni but wasn't sure. I'm sure they're not M. yuma, which I also find often, because these are flying in the winter time, when M. yuma fly in late summer. I never found any in Palm Desert, where I assumed I would.

 

From Palm Desert, I drove up through Anza, and on to SR79. Shortly after turning onto the 79, I stopped and looked around there. Right away I started finding founding chambers not too far from where I parked. To my surprise I dug up some Myrmecocystus testaceus. I had no idea these things flew this early. I only got about six of them before I ran out of founding chambers to dig up. It seemed like they were all concentrated in a spot right by my truck.

 

Today I went out to the hiking trail by the candy store off Ortega Highway. The area was actually still pretty wet, even though it's been about a week since it rained. I saw a lot of founding chambers there, but didn't have too much luck finding queens in them. I was probably getting about one queen for every ten chambers I dug up. I'm kind of surprised they were that deep already. By the end of the day I had another eight of these, and I never found anything other than M. testaceus. This is the spot where I see a large number of Myrmecocystus wheeleri colonies, and where I found my M. wheeleri queen last year. At least I can say for sure I have not missed the M. wheeleri flights yet.

[AntsCalifornia]

Dang it, did I miss flights when I was up in Mojave this Saturday?

[dspdrew]

They might fly again. Certainly Veromessor pergandei and Pheidole barbata are still yet to fly, and should be flying in the next month or two.