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Greg's Pogonomyrmex californicus bicolor Journal (Discontinued)

pogonomyrmex pogonomyrmex californicus bicolor harvester ant journal

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13 replies to this topic

#1 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted July 28 2015 - 3:42 AM

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I think I was the only one on this forum to find some of these this year. :thinking: Well anyway, I only found one, but luckily she is doing great! She has a larva that is getting real close to the pupa stage and two larvae really close behind.


Edited by Gregory2455, February 20 2019 - 10:13 PM.


#2 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 28 2015 - 6:47 AM

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Yeah they must have had some top secret mating flights this year.


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#3 Offline kellakk - Posted July 28 2015 - 8:25 AM

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I'm willing to bet they flew exactly the same time as last year.


Current Species:
Camponotus fragilis

Novomessor cockerelli

Pogonomyrmex montanus

Pogonomyrmex rugosus

Manica bradleyi

 

 


#4 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 28 2015 - 9:27 AM

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Nope. The closest rain to the time they flew last year wasn't enough to make anything fly... except this one Greg caught I guess. I didn't see a single thing anywhere else in the Victor Valley area.



#5 Offline kellakk - Posted July 28 2015 - 9:39 AM

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P. californicus fly due to seasonal changes in photoperiod, not from rain.  This paper (link) goes in depth into the harvester ants of North America, including a section describing mating flights.  It says that some of the maricopa complex evolved this flight-triggered-by-photoperiod in order to cope with invasion into drier deserts.


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Current Species:
Camponotus fragilis

Novomessor cockerelli

Pogonomyrmex montanus

Pogonomyrmex rugosus

Manica bradleyi

 

 


#6 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 28 2015 - 10:23 AM

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That I know is definitely true about the coastal variety of P. californicus, but the desert bicolor variety is so much different. I wondered if they might fly without rain like the coastal ones, but the only flight I have witnessed happened the day after it poured rain at the spot we found them flying.

 

I haven't read the .pdf yet because I can't seem to open them on the laptop I'm on, but once I can I'll check it out.



#7 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted August 11 2015 - 12:54 AM

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Update: 8/11/2015

The queen is about to get a worker! :D



#8 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted August 16 2015 - 2:57 AM

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Update: 8/16/2015

She got her first worker a few days ago, and two more are close behind!



#9 Offline Lamarr - Posted August 17 2015 - 4:34 AM

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Update: 8/16/2015

She got her first worker a few days ago, and two more are close behind!

 

Congrats! Time to feed some seeds I presume?



#10 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted August 18 2015 - 10:42 PM

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Update: 8/16/2015

She got her first worker a few days ago, and two more are close behind!

 

Congrats! Time to feed some seeds I presume?

 

I gave them some, but they prefer Blue 100 way more. They did split a single nyger seed in half but then went back to chewing on Blue 100.



#11 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted August 18 2015 - 11:32 PM

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Pictures!

With one worker:

With two workers:



#12 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted August 19 2015 - 12:37 AM

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#13 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted September 3 2015 - 5:14 PM

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Update: 9/3/2015

Unlike my concolorous colonies of this species, this colony is doing great! They are up to three workers now.



#14 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted February 17 2016 - 12:36 PM

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Discontinued.

The workers died one after the other until finally, today, the queen also died. :(







Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: pogonomyrmex, pogonomyrmex californicus, bicolor, harvester ant, journal

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