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Dspdrew's Pheidole vistana Journal [85] (Updated 2-4-2024)

Pheidole vistana Dspdrew journal

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#21 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted September 1 2014 - 5:14 PM

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Desert species usually have really long legs because they need to keep their bodies of the hot ground during the day.



#22 Offline Alza - Posted September 1 2014 - 5:30 PM

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i like that



#23 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted September 1 2014 - 5:32 PM

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Myrmecocystus mexicanus has legs like that.



#24 Offline dspdrew - Posted September 2 2014 - 6:13 AM

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  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

I have read that about long legs and desert species, and it makes sense to me, but there are all sorts of ant species in the desert that have short legs too, so I don't know how much that really means. For example, all other Pheidole, Acromyrmex, Cyphomyrmex, and Solenopsis all have short legs.



#25 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted September 2 2014 - 6:37 AM

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I guess it depends how sensitive they are to heat.



#26 Offline Myrmicinae - Posted September 2 2014 - 1:33 PM

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Longer legs probably also allow them to cover a greater distance in less time, something that would be useful in taking advantage of sparse resources in the desert.

I wonder if species with shorter legs forage at cooler parts of the day...
Journals on Formiculture:
Pheidole ceres
Tapinoma sessile

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#27 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted September 2 2014 - 3:31 PM

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True.



#28 Offline dspdrew - Posted September 2 2014 - 3:33 PM

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  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

I do see Acromyrmex foraging late at night, as well as Cyphomyrmex. Funny thing is this particular species of Pheidole I only see foraging at night.



#29 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted September 2 2014 - 3:36 PM

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They were soft and I think they were parasitic.

 

Mine were soft and parasitic as well... Not much difference, but mine were WAY whiter.

 

       Although.... I am not sure they were parasitic, I eliminated all of them except in the colony of the black unidentified species, which where they are multiplying.  :o


Edited by Gregory2455, September 2 2014 - 3:37 PM.


#30 Offline dspdrew - Posted September 3 2014 - 7:35 AM

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  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Some of these were white too, because they were very new and had not darkened yet.



#31 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted September 3 2014 - 2:04 PM

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Mine are white throughout their lives.

#32 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted September 19 2014 - 4:03 PM

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Quick ending to an ant I see you want really bad. :(


Edit: This was referring to the first colony. The second wasn't originally part of this journal.

Edited by dspdrew, November 25 2023 - 8:10 PM.
dspdrew


#33 Offline dspdrew - Posted September 19 2014 - 4:24 PM

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  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Yeah, I was pretty pissed. I'm glad I have P. desertorum vistana now though, they're almost exactly the same.
 
 
Edit: They were actually P. vistana and part of this journal now.


Edited by dspdrew, November 25 2023 - 8:10 PM.
dspdrew


#34 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted September 19 2014 - 4:44 PM

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Yeah, I was pretty pissed. I'm glad I have P. desertorum now though, they're almost exactly the same.

 

That is good. :) 

I think right now i would do anything for xerophilla or gilvescens, something not in the fallax group.



#35 Offline dspdrew - Posted October 2 2014 - 8:37 PM

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Update 10-2-2014
 
I've been keeping this colony's test tube in a foraging container for the last month. They for some reason are losing workers as fast as they're being produced. Today I put them in a new test tube and got rid of all the dead ones, as a lot of them had mold starting to grow on them. I actually put them in the new modified test tube I recently created to give it a test also. Now the colony has about as many workers as it did on the last update, and no more foraging container. I want to see how well they do back in just a test tube only.



#36 Offline dspdrew - Posted October 18 2014 - 10:01 AM

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  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 10-18-2014
 
After the last worker finally died last week, today queen died as well. I guess I'll have to try again next year.



#37 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted October 18 2014 - 11:26 AM

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:( Man that sucks. Fallax-group Pheidole seem harder to keep than others. 



#38 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 1 2015 - 9:15 PM

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  • LocationSanta Ana, CA

Update 7-1-2015

 

I found three more of these queens wandering around on a dirt road in Trabuco Canyon, California around 9:00 pm.

 

The first one was found 6-9-2015, and was a dealate. It laid tons of eggs, and now has pupae that are getting close to eclosing.

 

med_gallery_2_216_188598.jpg
 
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As you can see, these have such long legs, the pupae can hardly fold up like they normally do.
 
med_gallery_2_216_161228.jpg
 
med_gallery_2_216_471769.jpg

 

The other two were found on 6-28-2015 and still had their wings.

A day or two later the alates both removed their wings and laid a small piles of eggs.

 

med_gallery_2_93_208528.jpg
 
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Hopefully I have better luck with these this time.



#39 Offline kellakk - Posted July 1 2015 - 10:41 PM

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Those pupae look awesome! I understand why you like these vistana/desertorum now, I want a colony myself!


Current Species:
Camponotus fragilis

Novomessor cockerelli

Pogonomyrmex montanus

Pogonomyrmex rugosus

Manica bradleyi

 

 


#40 Offline dspdrew - Posted July 2 2015 - 5:04 PM

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  • LocationSanta Ana, CA
Update 7-2-2015
 
I had no idea these were only a day away from eclosing. She now has a bunch of workers. These went from egg to worker in only three weeks!
 
med_gallery_2_216_320176.jpg
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