After the rains and hearing that Drew had some luck finding queens on the 20th I decided to head out and try to get my hands on some honeypots as well!
I settled on a nice area with wet ground and open areas to look for founding chambers:
After getting out of my car I did not have to go far, a foot from my tire there was this mexicanus chamber:
Some Myrmecocystus were still actively digging at 1pm:
I don't have any more photos from in the field...but this is a representation of what I ended up with:
Myrmecocystus mexicanus
M. navajo
M. cf. kennedyi
Myrmecocystus spA (ID it!) and another type almost identical with a dark band at the top of their heads
M. placodops??? only found one of these
Dorymyrmex sp. were everywhere
Pheidole too, these are P. gilvescens
Camponotus semitestaceus were around (I found two, gave one to Stuhrike - also accidentally dug into two colonies and collected male and female alates)
Found plenty of termites as well
Overall I came home with 19 M. mexicanus, 23 M. navajo, 21 misc Myrmecocystus, 4 Dorymyrmex, 1 P. gilvescens, 1 C. semitestaceus, and a sunburn. Pretty good trip!
Edited by Subverted, July 26 2015 - 9:30 PM.
