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[RushmoreAnts]

I caught these Formica pallidefulva group queens in July of 2024. I have just gotten a better macro lens and lighting setup, so I want to get them positively identified.

 

Title:
1. Location: Nebraska City, NE
2. 4/30/2025
 
Queen 1:
1. Location of collection Arbor Day Farms, Nebraska City, NE
2. Date of collection: July 5, 2024
3. Habitat of collection: Hotel Parking Lot; deciduous forests and decorative flower gardens nearby.
4. Length: 12 mm 
5. Coloration, hue, pattern and texture: Brownish/reddish head, orange thorax, brown and orange stripped gaster.
6. Distinguishing characteristics: 

7. Anything else distinctive:
8. Nest description:
9. Nuptial flight time and date:

 

 

 

 

1. Location of collection Arbor Day Farms, Nebraska City, NE

2. Date of collection: July 6, 2024
3. Habitat of collection: Hotel Parking Lot; deciduous forests and decorative flower gardens nearby.
4. Length: 11 mm 
5. Coloration, hue, pattern and texture: Similar coloration to queen 1 except everything is slightly darker.
6. Distinguishing characteristics: Slightly smaller than queen 1.

7. Anything else distinctive:
8. Nest description:
9. Nuptial flight time and date:

 

 

[RushmoreAnts]

Update:

 

I tried keying them out, and I believe both are Formica pallidefulva.

 

 

• Mesosomal dorsum without erect setae or with a small cluster on the mesonotum and/or a few erect hairs elsewhere; gaster shiny with sparse, short appressed pubescence and relative short, sparse, blunt pilosity (Figures 4a, 6a); color highly variable, ranging from bright tawny or coppery yellow (southern United States) to very dark brown (mountains in northern and western United States) and including many intermediate colorations; mesic habitats, from gardens, parks and prairies to closed-canopy forests, or more shaded parts of drier sites . . . . . Formica pallidefulva

 

From what I can tell, the mesonotum is pretty hairless on both colonies' queens and workers. The gaster hairs are sparse and appressed (flat lying), and I noticed a pattern where they are denser at the posterior and taper as they approach the anterior of the gaster. I studied AntWiki's specimens of the other five species, and they do not seem to share this characteristic. So my best guess is they are slight color variations of Formica pallidefulva.

 

Let me know your thoughts/criticisms! 

Edited by RushmoreAnts, May 1 2025 - 6:56 AM.