2451 replies to this topic

[gcsnelling]

Cool, in our desert ants paper there was some debate with my dad as to whether they were in Goffs or more up in the hills. I can now lay that to rest. If you end up with spare material from that locality a sample for LACM would be nice to add to the few that are already in the collection from that site.

Edited by gcsnelling, July 1 2016 - 3:39 PM.

[dspdrew]

Cool, in our desert ants paper there was some debate with my dad as to whether they were in Goffs or more up in the hills. I can now lay that to rest. If you end up with spare material from that locality a sample for LACM would be nice to add to the few that are already in the collection from that site.

 

Interesting. I'll grab some samples.

[dspdrew]

For anyone who doesn't feel like driving practically to Nevada.

 

[Foogoo]

What a bummer, went to Victoville and made my way up to Helendale then zip zagged all the way down. Nothing. No sign of flights or founding chambers even though the rain was evident. It was quite breezy which is my guess why they didn't fly. I'll bet there will be flights as the week wears on up there.

 

Stopped by Mormon Rocks and the area is pockmarked with P. californicus founding chambers. How was Goffs?

[Subverted]

Thanks for doing the legwork! Glad I didn't try to make that trek...

[dspdrew]

What a bummer, went to Victoville and made my way up to Helendale then zip zagged all the way down. Nothing. No sign of flights or founding chambers even though the rain was evident. It was quite breezy which is my guess why they didn't fly. I'll bet there will be flights as the week wears on up there.

 

Stopped by Mormon Rocks and the area is pockmarked with P. californicus founding chambers. How was Goffs?

 

I saw that. We made a few stops along Route 66 near Helendale, and it definitely poured rain, but the wind was insane. I too would say that was probably the reason nothing flew. I really hate wind. It just ruins everything, unless you like sailing or flying kites. I don't do either of those things.

[dspdrew]

Goffs was pretty much a total waste. Luckily we did find Pogonomyrmex rugosus queens there, and Dorymyrmex bicolor queens a few miles north. We didn't find a single Novomessor cockerelli queen though, and I really don't understand why. This was the first big rain of the summer, and they flew only four days later last year. The giant nest that was right where we parked last time seems to be completely gone now. We did find more nests though. We even found a nest a couple miles down the road from there. We dug into a couple nests, and didn't see a single alate. There's obviously quite a few different possibilities as to what went wrong, but hopefully we were just too early, because I'm going to try again the next time they get rain.

[gcsnelling]

Were you able to at least grab some workers for voucher samples?

[dspdrew]

Were you able to at least grab some workers for voucher samples?

 

Yeah I got a few. I think I probably still have a few from the last time I was there too.

[gcsnelling]

Excellent

[Foogoo]

Has anyone been blacklighting lately? I'm thinking the warm night these few weeks may be a good opportunity.

[dspdrew]

I tried Saturday night while passing through the Santa Ana mountains on Ortega Hwy, and not a single living thing landed on my light.

[dspdrew]

So umm.. yeah... looks like there won't be any anting this summer. This is unbelievable, not one storm in the Southern California deserts the entire summer.

[dspdrew]

Funny the day after my last post, and there is finally some thunderstorms forming in the desert.

[Vendayn]

Funny the day after my last post, and there is finally some thunderstorms forming in the desert.

I noticed quite a substantial one, right off the 10 where the Acromyrmex are too. Hopefully that means they'll be flying in the next few days.

[dspdrew]

I've been watching that, but now that I'm using all these websites I've never used before, I'm not really sure about what I'm seeing. Most of the sites are not even reporting anything that is consistent with what I am seeing on the radar.

[dspdrew]

I decided to go check it out. The area near Joshua Tree was pretty wet from more rain yesterday morning, but the moisture only went down about three inches. There was no sign of queens anywhere there.

 

Next I headed up to Desert Center where it looked like there was heavier rain, and sure enough it was pretty soaked a little ways up the 177. It was still about 90 degrees out and about 60 percent humidity. At 90 degrees, 60 percent humidity is absolute misery. First the subterranean termites started flying by the billions. I was actually having a hard time breathing without sucking them down my throat, there were so many in the air. The super bright light on my head of course didn't help things. Surprisingly, there was hardly any ants flying at all. I ran the black light for a while, and saw Solenopsis xyloni, S. molesta, Dorymyrmex insanus, and Crematogaster queens. I also found a single Myrmecocystus navajo dealate on my sheet too. To my surprise I found a few Acromyrmex nests right there were I stopped as well. I have a feeling they might have flown this morning, so I'm probably going to go back. In addition to the massive amounts of termites, there were also TONS of these big beetles. I collected a jar full of them because they make great ant food. My Pogonomyrmex loved them the last time I collected a bunch. I also found a new gecko.

 

I wasn't too happy about this trip at this point, but decided to make one last stop back at the area near Joshua Tree as I was passing by, to see if anything happened after dark. It sure was a good thing I did that because apparently Camponotus fragilis had a big mating flight; I found a whole bunch of them.

[kellakk]

Sounds like a decent trip given the circumstances. What do those beetles look like?

[dspdrew]

They look like this, and hey stink really bad like ammonia.

 

[Foogoo]

What are your feelings on whether there will be founding chambers still by Saturday? I feel that any founding chambers remaining, they would've dug beyond shovel reach.