2450 replies to this topic

[Enderz]

So any luck out in Barstow. I'll be heading out today.

Yesterday Scrixx said he found nothing I'm pretty sure. He also said no flights at Lytle Creek.

[SirAnticus]

I'm currently just north of California city in Rancho Seco. Absolutely nothing to report.

[Scrixx]

Well I did it, I won the game. I caught two Dorymyrmex bicolor last night. Oh and a Solenopsis sp. at Mt. Baldy. Found live Camponotus males of three species but couldn't find any queens, shame. Lake Arrowhead and Crestline had good temps for flights but I just didn't know where it would've been good to park and walk around. I looked at the map and it's mostly houses and it's very mountainous. Anyone know of good places to park and walk around? Trails preferably. I would really appreciate it and I'd obviously report back if I find anything.

 

Time:  9:30-11:30PM
Temperature: 68F
Humidity: 42% Note: It said 42% humidity but it felt so dry. 
Wind: 0
No recent rains

Wunderground: https://www.wundergr...20180509/mdaily

 

ID Thread: http://www.formicult...dy-ca-05102018/

[Enderz]

Scrixx was the solenopsis sp. the same ant you found when I was there?

[Scrixx]

Scrixx was the solenopsis sp. the same ant you found when I was there?

 

I'm not sure. I'll have to get a better picture with better lighting of the first one. 

[AntsCalifornia]

Well I did it, I won the game. I caught two Dorymyrmex bicolor last night. Oh and a Solenopsis sp. at Mt. Baldy. Found live Camponotus males of three species but couldn't find any queens, shame. Lake Arrowhead and Crestline had good temps for flights but I just didn't know where it would've been good to park and walk around. I looked at the map and it's mostly houses and it's very mountainous. Anyone know of good places to park and walk around? Trails preferably. I would really appreciate it and I'd obviously report back if I find anything.

 

Time:  9:30-11:30PM
Temperature: 68F
Humidity: 42% Note: It said 42% humidity but it felt so dry. 
Wind: 0
No recent rains

Wunderground: https://www.wundergr...20180509/mdaily

 

ID Thread: http://www.formicult...dy-ca-05102018/

That's too bad, I could have easily gone there. 

[Enderz]

I'm pretty sure it rained here and I saw what looked to be an argentine alate on a nest entrance. It was strange as she had wings.

[AntsCalifornia]

I'm pretty sure it rained here and I saw what looked to be an argentine alate on a nest entrance. It was strange as she had wings.

A small amount of argentine ant queens will actually fly while the rest mate inside the colony.

[AntsCalifornia]

So this year I'm probably going to get one opportunity to catch ants, and I'm going to try to get M. mexicanus with my one anting trip, and I was wondering; is it better to try and catch them when they fly, or dig them up?

[miwu]

So this year I'm probably going to get one opportunity to catch ants, and I'm going to try to get M. mexicanus with my one anting trip, and I was wondering; is it better to try and catch them when they fly, or dig them up?

When they fly. And you’ll probably still have to dig a little bit.

[Enderz]

Yes myrmecocystus dig very fast after a flight.

[dspdrew]

The problem with trying to catch them when they fly, is if you are as little as a few hours too early, you go home with nothing. If you just go expecting to dig them up, you can be within about 3 days of when they flew in the middle of the summer, and even a week or more in the winter.

[dspdrew]

Back on May 5th I decided  to drive all the way up to Shoshone, California. On the way I stopped off and got some pictures of what looked like a flash flood, but nope, it's actually a permanent flowing stream through the desert called Amargosa River which is supplied by the Tecopa Hot Spring many miles north of there.

 

 

 

 

This here is Tecopa Hot Spring. As you can see there were no naked people soaking in it at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is where I finally found some queen ants.

 

 

 

I still don't know if they are Pogonomyrmex californicus or P. maricopa. The last time i found P. maricopa, they were in Blythe, along the Colorado River where the habitat is very similar - a sort-of desert marsh, all wet and muddy. They flew in September though, and this is May, very close to when P. californicus flies. I tried IDing them, but I still don't know for sure. P. californicus and P. maricopa are very difficult to tell apart. Does anyone know if P. californicus in this part of the Mojave Desert would be all red, or with just a small black stripe on the gaster vs. the entire gaster black?

 

 

 

 

They certainly move like P. maricopa or the desert bicolor variety of P. californicus. Another weird thing about these is that they seem to range in size a lot. The first few I found were so small I thought they were P. magnacanthus, but then I noticed the eyes were not large. The much smaller queens also dug nests that looked more like small lumps of fine sand, unlike what I normally see from Pogonomyrmex. Basically I'm pretty confused by these queens. I'm not even sure they're all the same species. Having no spines or large eyes, I doubt they can be anything other than the two I suspect they might be.

 

Most of the queens were in founding chambers found in the sandy areas next to the bushes. Some were still digging and some even running around.

 

 

 

Some crazy person with a shovel was digging holes in the desert for hours while it was 100 degrees out.

 

 

 

These gigantic flies were driving me nuts. They would land on you and just start biting if you didn't keep moving. I took a couple of them out with my trusty shovel, but eventually they would come back for more.

 

 

 

 

Here's the funny looking Desert Weevils I shared in another post.

 

 

 

 

Here's some cool pictures from the Mojave Preserve.

 

 

 

 

[T.C.]

Oh boy! Story time. Pretty sure those are "horse flies." They used to bite us when we swam in the pool. We would take the wake boards and wait for them. When they came you would punch them into the water with these board things, or use a pool noodle. The most interesting thing was you could knock them out, and they would land in the water. But they will take off in 3 seconds, right off the water. And around here they can be huge. I'm gonna have to get pictures this summer.

[Enderz]

Oh boy! Story time. Pretty sure those are "horse flies." They used to bite us when we swam in the pool. We would take the wake boards and wait for them. When they came you would punch them into the water with these board things, or use a pool noodle. The most interesting thing was you could knock them out, and they would land in the water. But they will take off in 3 seconds, right off the water. And around here they can be huge. I'm gonna have to get pictures this summer.

That sounds like something fun that I would do and also quite amazing, huge flies taking off from water wow.

[LC3]

Those flies would appear to be Tabanus punctifer. The western horse fly.

[nurbs]

Really glad Drew figured out how to use his new camera. Should post some of his camera tech support questions. 

[T.C.]

Really glad Drew figured out how to use his new camera. Should post some of his camera tech support questions. 

Please do.

[Enderz]

Really glad Drew figured out how to use his new camera. Should post some of his camera tech support questions. 

Please do this would be a nice laugh

[dspdrew]

Oh boy! Story time. Pretty sure those are "horse flies." They used to bite us when we swam in the pool. We would take the wake boards and wait for them. When they came you would punch them into the water with these board things, or use a pool noodle. The most interesting thing was you could knock them out, and they would land in the water. But they will take off in 3 seconds, right off the water. And around here they can be huge. I'm gonna have to get pictures this summer.

 

Yeah, I hit a few with my shovel, and after falling to the ground, they eventually took off again.

 

 

Those flies would appear to be Tabanus punctifer. The western horse fly.

 

Probably

 

Really glad Drew figured out how to use his new camera. Should post some of his camera tech support questions.