2111 replies to this topic

[Cindy]

In addition to Tetramorium sp. workers and Formica pallidefulva workers, I saw a bunch of C. Pennsylvanicus workers in my backyard and some C. nearcticus alates. I also caught some unidentified brown reddish ants walking on a small branch and will post it for ID soon. 

 

I wish I saw C. Americanus! 

[Salmon]

To find C. americanus try searching a somewhat open, sparsely vegetated area at night. They're quite common but almost entirely nocturnal.

[Nathant2131]

Lots of foraging activity today in Dracut but no flights; Just a Formica fusca group worker carrying around a dead P. imparis queen! Also saw what I think was a Solenopsis colony under a rock.

[akaant]

In addition to Tetramorium sp. workers and Formica pallidefulva workers, I saw a bunch of C. Pennsylvanicus workers in my backyard and some C. nearcticus alates. I also caught some unidentified brown reddish ants walking on a small branch and will post it for ID soon. 

 

I wish I saw C. Americanus! 

I wish i saw Camponotus castaneus! They seem rare around here.

[Nathant2131]

It was a high of 83 F today. Most of my day was anting in my backyard. I really noticed how incredibly diverse only my backyard is. I found many species I had never seen before. I would say this has been the most active day ant-related so far this year.

 

Formica fusca-group sp. has their own empire in my yard. Any food? They get to it first. I am not a sucker for big species but I must say the behaviour of this species is fascinating. Their nest entrances are very very inconspicuos and don't even have mounds. At the entrance, the workers are very smartly distributed around it; Unlike most ants, they are not swarmed at the entrance; They are evenly spread out at about a 4 foot radius. They are sly and quick. Wary of their surroundings. I placed a petri dish full of Sunurst Ant Nectar near one of the nests, and it took about an hour for them to swarm it. That is, until I noticed this species is extremely prone to thinking they can swim. Almost all of the workers that encountered it looked like they purposely started bathing in the stuff, haha! A few were unmoving, so I removed them while they slowly recovered. While watching them, I even saw a worker carry back a dead Prenolepis imparis queen to the nest. There was nothing flying, so I found this strange.

 

Here is a shot of a worker before the dish started getting swarmed:

 

 

That photography class was one of the best things I've ever did. 

 

Also some Lasius cf. alienus and Lasius cf. neoniger colonies in the yard. Prenolepis imparis were not foraging, but were lingering at their nest entrances. Tetramorium sp. e as always were doing some work, but that goes without saying if you know what I mean.

 

Down by the leaf littery, dirt section of my backyard, I found my first ever poneroid, which I'm 80% sure was Ponera pennsylvanica. They are very wispy when they move, like every part of them is bendy. I also saw some Monomorium sp. Temnothorax longispinosis workers (which I am increasily getting more aware of how common they are), some sort of flavus-group or Social parasite Lasius colony just awakening, and some unidentified Camponotus sp. workers foraging up trees, mostly comprised of majors. (which I IDed as a Myrmentoma subgenus species)

 

I wasn't eyeing the ground too closely today, (which I usually have to do to find a Lasius social parasite queen) so I did not see any parasite queens invading today.

 

I am not sure if the early-flying Camponotus are just not present locally in my area, becuase I saw no alates. I am hoping to trip to the Dracut-Lowell State Forest, where I've found Camponotus pennsylvanicus in abundance, so I'm hoping other Camponotus species as well will be present there. You can't get much better then dense forest for that genus. 

 

Thanks for the tip on C. americanus, Salmon.

Edited by Nathant2131, June 17 2017 - 7:15 AM.

[noebl1]

To find C. americanus try searching a somewhat open, sparsely vegetated area at night. They're quite common but almost entirely nocturnal.

 

When I go out during the summer anting at night, I see more C. americanus than anything else typically.  Absolutely beautiful in the light.  Only time I have ever seen them during the day is when the alates were flying or digging founding chambers.

[akaant]

To find C. americanus in the day time during summer it has to be in the low 70's and cloudy. I generally find them by the mound they make in open sandy mossy areas.

 

typical environment I find C. americanus, myrmica, formica ,lasius, pheidole, crematogaster and a number of unknown species.

[Myrmidon]

To find C. americanus in the day time during summer it has to be in the low 70's and cloudy. I generally find them by the mound they make in open sandy mossy areas.

 

typical environment I find C. americanus, myrmica, formica ,lasius, pheidole, crematogaster and a number of unknown species.

 

This is super helpful. I haven't seen C. americanus before (from what I can remember anyway...). I love how they look! 

[noebl1]

Finally ID'ed at least one of the two large nests in my lawn; they have substantial excavations of dirt:

 

ID'ed them as Tetramorium today as were very active.  The second nest is about 10 feet away, and they were battling today between the two nests.

 

What threw me for a loop on these is I had noticed their entrances last year, but intermingled in the same nest mounds was what looked like a *very* orange-yellow Lasius sp.  I only noticed as one of the mounds in the middle had been disturbed, and they were moving around the tunnels. Haven't seen them this year, but still confused me as didn't think they'd coexist like that.

Edited by noebl1, April 29 2017 - 9:31 AM.

[Nathant2131]

Looks a little too cool for Camponotus flying tonight, but I'm going to take a walk at night to see if I can locate any C. americanus colonies.

[Nathant2131]

Success!!! After an hour or two of walking, I found a bunch of C. americanus foraging on a tree. There were hundreds of Prenolepis imparis mounds close by. It was someone's yard, so I didn't bother finding the nest entrance.

This was my first time anting at night. Camponotus pennsylvanicus forage a hundred times harder at night than they do at day. Also lots of Devil's Coach Horse beetles walking around.

Edited by Nathant2131, April 30 2017 - 2:59 AM.

[Myrmidon]

I was hoping to get a little bit more lucky yesterday with flights but it didn't look like anything was flying. My main priority is the large Camponotus noveboracensis colony in a large tree stump so I always check to see for swarming. I did see them still clearing out some entrances and I saw male and female alates "changing" chambers. It's funny because the males are carried out by the workers into adjacent chambers and the queens proudly just walk themselves out. Haha.

 

The Prenolepis imparis colonies were not very active. I found three Camponotus pennsylvanicus nests and the vast amount of Tetramorium sp. e activity is crazy. I did manage to catch a Lasius umbratus queen wandering around on the pavement out back but I don't think I have the experience yet to try the whole parasitic colony founding process. I am feeding her at the moment and reading up on it but not sure I can pull it off yet. 

 

There's a larger park with trails nearby and I have yet to successfully do some anting there. I'll probably do so when it gets a bit warmer! I'm sure there will be a lot activity there as well.

[Nathant2131]

Prenolepis imparis were so so active when I was walking at night. At one point, I couldn't find a tree that wasn't being heavily foraged on by them. Also so many mounds. I only noticed they were P imparis mounds about halfway through the walk since I thought they were just Lasius or Tetramorium.

[Nathant2131]

I was coaching a t-ball team a few days ago, and the baseball field was full of diversity- Lasius was plagued there. You could not take one step without stepping on 3 mounds- no lie. Also foraging/nesting there were neogagates-group Formica, Prenolepis imparis, Myrmica sp, Tapinoma sessile, Monomorium cf. emarginatum, Tetramorium cf. caespitum, and I think I might have even saw Tetramorium tsushimae! They were noticably smaller than Tetramorium caespitum, and were a lot more red in color. 

 

If Lasius neoniger is somehow not around you, I strongly suggest a baseball field. I bet the social parasites bomb them hard, too.

 

Looks like it will be really rainy and/or cool out for a while now.

[Salmon]

There's a Formica fusca group colony that lives in my backyard. Recently this year, a few red Formica workers have started popping up in their nest. It'll be interesting to see how long the transition from the original colony to the social parasite colony takes. (Unless they're Sanguinea- group slavemakers, in which case it'll be impossible to tell due to the presence of new fusca- group slaves.)

I also flipped over a rock where a fusca- group colony was nesting and saw two queens, so I grabbed one along with a few workers. I plan to go back and collect more of the workers and put them in a grout formicarium I made a while back.

[zkublin]

Anyone else have enough of this low 60s weather?  We were given such a tease a few weeks ago with those 80 degree days.

[Nathant2131]

Anyone else have enough of this low 60s weather?  We were given such a tease a few weeks ago with those 80 degree days.

I sure am. It looks like it's getting a lot warmer towards the end of next week though.

[Nathant2131]

Has anyone experienced a Formica pallidefulva-group flight? They seem relatively common where I am and would like to know a bit about when they fly.

[Salmon]

Has anyone experienced a Formica pallidefulva-group flight? They seem relatively common where I am and would like to know a bit about when they fly.

I saw a queen (probably F. incerta) walking around on the ground last year. Don't remember exactly when but it was very late in the summer. (September I think.)

[noebl1]

Just looked at the forecast for next week, I'd have test tubes at the ready.  Based on time of year and weather, I strongly suspect Camponotus will be flying on Wed as it will break 80 potentially.   In my look back at last year, they were flying already by this point in 80s.