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Help me ID these Tampa, FL ants please??


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13 replies to this topic

#1 Offline JustinC621 - Posted May 18 2018 - 7:41 PM

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Hello all. I am BRAND NEW to this ant keeping thing. I actually just purchased my first camponotus floridanus queen ant through the GAN Project in fear I would not find any mated queens this year being brand new at it.

 

I walk out on my porch tonight around 10:30 pm and I see a bunch of tiny insects on the wall by the light. At closer look they were definitely winged ants! I start to look around and notice that just a few of them are about 4 times the size of the rest. Queens, maybe?? I grabbed some tubes and got to work collecting them hoping they have mated. I don't know why but I decided to look down around on the ground and see one of the bigger ones crawling around like crazy with no wings! I'm thinking she has to be a mated queen.

 

In all I grabbed 7 of them just in case they are actually queens. The mid section is pretty big compared to the rest of them and especially to the other smaller ones that were out there.

 

After getting them all properly tubed up with water and cotton I snapped a pic of the one with no wings. I'm thinking they may be camponotus but they are most definitely smaller than the one I purchased. But have also read that there are so many types of them and some are extremely small.

 

Anyways, can someone help me make sure it's definitely a queen and ID her? Sorry for the pic it's the best I could get. Thanks!!gx9GWT

 

It won't let me upload the picture for some reason. Tells me I am not permitted to upload this kind of file. It's jpg lol. Image can be viewed at https://ibb.co/gx9GWT

 

Edit: I ended up going out again and seen another of the bigger ones running around on the ground. Best measurement I could get from them being in the tubes is about 6mm in length. I snapped a photo of the second one with no wings and got better quality pic for you guys 

 

https://ibb.co/gJHOd8

 

https://ibb.co/eUozko

 

https://ibb.co/gR51y8

 

https://ibb.co/cCDX5o

 

https://ibb.co/cEm8d8


Edited by JustinC621, May 18 2018 - 8:59 PM.


#2 Offline NanceUSMC - Posted May 18 2018 - 8:10 PM

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I'm definitely not the expert in identifying these gals, but that looks a lot like the Forelius queen I had identified in my thread this afternoon... take a look at those pics and see if they're similar...

#3 Offline JustinC621 - Posted May 18 2018 - 8:21 PM

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I'm definitely not the expert in identifying these gals, but that looks a lot like the Forelius queen I had identified in my thread this afternoon... take a look at those pics and see if they're similar...

 

 

I must say they do look a lot a like! 

 

Hopefully someone can give a definitive answer on that.. And that they are actually queens. I'm such a noob lol. 


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#4 Offline StayLoki - Posted May 18 2018 - 8:24 PM

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They look a lot like Lasius flavus...
Are they native to Florida tho?

Edited by StayLoki, May 18 2018 - 8:24 PM.


#5 Offline 123LordOfAnts123 - Posted May 18 2018 - 8:25 PM

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Dorymyrmex bureni.

#6 Offline JustinC621 - Posted May 18 2018 - 8:27 PM

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They look a lot like Lasius flavus...
Are they native to Florida tho?

From the map I just looked at on AntWiki it showed they are not native to Florida.



#7 Offline StayLoki - Posted May 18 2018 - 8:31 PM

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^they're deff queens, and Justin's probably right with Forelius!

#8 Offline JustinC621 - Posted May 18 2018 - 8:32 PM

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Dorymyrmex bureni.

After a google search and skimming a few videos I think we got a winner!! You sir, are awesome! Now the only question that nobody has answered.. It is a queen, right? lol



#9 Offline StayLoki - Posted May 18 2018 - 8:34 PM

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hmmmm well which is it..? They look extremely alike
Can you get more views??

#10 Offline JustinC621 - Posted May 18 2018 - 8:34 PM

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^they're deff queens, and Justin's probably right with Forelius!

Oh ok thank you!! And I don't know I think LordOfAnts might be correct with the Dorymyrmex Bureni.. But it is still up for debate!! lol



#11 Offline JustinC621 - Posted May 18 2018 - 8:41 PM

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hmmmm well which is it..? They look extremely alike
Can you get more views??

I got some more shots. Got one of her looking right at me!!

 

https://ibb.co/eUozko

 

https://ibb.co/gR51y8

 

https://ibb.co/cCDX5o

 

https://ibb.co/cEm8d8



#12 Offline JustinC621 - Posted May 18 2018 - 9:18 PM

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I have been searching and maybe they are Forelius Pruinosus as originally suggested. 

 

This is not my video but I am 99.9% sure this is the same species of ant which was identified as such.

 

https://streamable.com/sudmz



#13 Offline YsTheAnt - Posted May 19 2018 - 10:23 PM

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Resembles Dormyrmex in my opinion, but not sure.

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#14 Offline 123LordOfAnts123 - Posted May 20 2018 - 8:01 AM

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Forelius pruinosus queens found in Florida are bicolored (or completely gray in some North FL populations) and around 4.5mm vs the usual 6.5 for D. bureni.

This species is extraordinarily common anywhere human development has taken place. Queens can carpet the ground under gas station lights during humid and warm evenings 6 months out of the year. It’s one of the few natives in the state that can thrive alongside Solenopsis invicta and introduced Brachymyrmex. Forelius in this state — and unlike the populations found in the West — disappear in moderately disturbed habitat, being only reliably found in protected or very lightly disturbed tracts of land.
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