Was looking inside a partially rotten landing that was being replaced, hoping to find what I believe to be a Camponotus vicinus colony, and instead found these girls.



Sorry for the blurry photos. Camera is charging and I'm hoping the outline looked unique enough. As said, found in decaying, half buried wood. I could be wrong, but they sure seem to look like some kind of Aphaenogaster, possibly A. rudis? I found a sole queen in one gallery, and possibly two queens (or a queen and a dealate?) in a second less than a foot away. The first colony may have had a 50-100 workers, the second 100-200. I'm pretty sure there's no polygyneous Aphaenogaster in the states though, right? That second queen confuses me. I really hope I didn't accidentally mix colonies, but if I did, the boundary between the two damn near nonexistent.

Queens are 6mm long on the dot, and with the workers being a bit under 4 and super bitey. They're all a dark, reddish brown with some workers having a darker brown gaster, and some having almost their entire body having that darker reddish brown coloration. I'm not sure if that's due to some of the workers being younger or what, but the difference in coloration between some is more pronounced than I'm used to. I can try to take better photos if necessary, but as always, my camera is rather hit and miss.

Definitely Aphaenogaster but I can't make out what species with those images. Also about polygyny regarding Aphaenogaster is interesting. They aren't supposed to be polygynous but Aphaenogaster rudis has been found with many queens with extremes being up to 15.

Also please give your location (at least your state) when identifying your ants. 

Edited by AntsAreUs, July 21 2018 - 1:41 PM.

Sorry, I put the location in the title, but I didn't think to place it in the body.

Is there a certain angle/part of the ant that would allow easy species identification, preferably of a worker? The colonies have each coalesced into a large blob of brown, so I doubt I'm going to clearly see the queen any time soon.

I also was reading your journal, and you mention an almond diet. Do you sprinkle crushed up chunks of unsalted almond, soak them first, or do anything special to prepare them? One colony was pretty receptive of the fruit flies/cricket I offered last night, but the other is... well, not. I'm open to suggestions.