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Oak Gall Ants


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#1 Offline cpman - Posted April 4 2015 - 10:51 AM

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So, I've found oak galls to have a suprising diversity of ants in them.

The live oaks around here have these hard galls about 1" in diameter.

 

Here are some ants I've seen in them:

 

Camponotus impressus

Camponotus etiolatus

Camponotus sayi (a queen!) -- I moved her to a test tube.

Crematogaster laeviuscula

Crematogaster punctulata

Pseudomyrmex gracilis

Temnothorax sp.

 

Next time you go anting, try breaking open some oak galls.



#2 Offline kellakk - Posted April 4 2015 - 11:20 AM

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Wow, I've never thought to look inside oak galls before! I always assumed they had wasp larvae in them. 


Current Species:
Camponotus fragilis

Novomessor cockerelli

Pogonomyrmex montanus

Pogonomyrmex rugosus

Manica bradleyi

 

 


#3 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted April 4 2015 - 11:44 AM

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That is pretty cool. (y)



#4 Offline cpman - Posted April 4 2015 - 3:28 PM

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You just have to be careful opening them -- they can be pretty hard, but you don't want to crush any brood they have!



#5 Offline PTAntFan - Posted April 5 2015 - 10:37 AM

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Never heard of those.  Might they also have wasps in them? http://ento.psu.edu/...heets/galls-oak


PTAntFan----------------------------------Pogonomyrmex Californicus*****************************<p>I use the $3 Tower I made up. See it here.

#6 Offline cpman - Posted April 5 2015 - 11:42 AM

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The young ones have wasp larvae in them.
The ones I was cracking are different from the ones in that link, but I imagine that older galls of those types should house ants as well.
The wasp larva eats a little hollow into the wood, and that is where the ants nest.
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