15 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

1. Location of collection: Trabuco Canyon, California.
2. Date of collection: 7-27-2014.
3. Habitat of collection: Chaparral/Oak Forest.
4. Length (from head to gaster): 4 mm.
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: All orangish-yellow.
6. Distinguishing characteristics:  Small spines, lots of hair.
7. Anything else distinctive:
8. Nest description:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Male

 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Looks like Pheidole to me, but I didn't know their queens can be this small.

 

Edit: After talking to some people, I think Temnothorax is a better guess.

[Gregory2455]

Another Temnothorax?

[dspdrew]

Possibly.

[dspdrew]

These are definitely Temnothorax Pheidole, I just don't know what species.

 

I just added some new microscope images.

[dspdrew]

Okay, this apparently is not Temnothorax, but Pheidole.

[Gregory2455]

I was going to say it looks like a small Pheidole sp.

[Gregory2455]

Pheidole (Pilifera) sp. is the closest I would guess, actually not even that. When your colony gets bigger, pin up a major and a minor worker.

Edited by Gregory2455, October 11 2014 - 3:25 PM.

[Gregory2455]

Are you going to pin a worker of these up?

[dspdrew]

I could probably do that.

[Alza]

Pheidole Yaqui 

[kellakk]

Alza, you can't give a positive ID to any Pheidole sp. without a major.

[Alza]

I didn't say I was positive, it was a guess.

Bottom line - Nobody knows what it is, so the only thing you really can do is throw out idea's, and he can compare the species.

Edited by Alza, July 23 2015 - 9:51 PM.

[LC3]

I didn't say I was positive, it was a guess.

Bottom line - Nobody knows what it is, so the only thing you really can do is throw out idea's, and he can compare the species.

Should have putted a question mark

[dspdrew]

 

I didnt say I was positive, it was a guess.

Bottom line - Nobody knows what it is, so the only thing you really can do is throw out idea's, and he can compare the species.

Should have putted a question mark

 

 

That's right. My guesses always have question marks or some context indicating such.

[kellakk]

I agree, punctuation is helpful.  After studying up on Pheidole for a while I'm pretty confident that both species you caught are in the bicarinata complex of the pilifera group.  You can tell because there's very little to no sculpture on the top part of the head.

Edited by kellakk, July 24 2015 - 10:46 AM.