2 replies to this topic

[chillocean]

1. Location (on a map) of collection: San Gabriel, South California
2. Date of collection: 5/9/25
3. Habitat of collection: Indoors
4. Length (from head to gaster): Maybe ~5mm?
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: Dark brown/black all throughout  

 

 

 

My first time anting, and I was very surprised to see ants indoors like this. There's a heat wave going on, so that might be the cause? I'm afraid that none of the three ants I caught are fertilized, as none of them have their wings off. Is there a way to tell from their appearance if they have mated or not?

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[L.H]

I'm no expert but I think these look very similar to brachymyrmex patagonicus queens.

Also, there is no way to tell if a queen is fertile from appearances

[Stubyvast]

Yeah, your best bet for fertility is simply time. If you see eggs and they hatch into proper larvae, you got a fertile queen! 

I also see that sometimes queens will begin cleaning their gaster, and almost always biting off their wings after a week or so, sometimes less. If they do these things, chances are higher for fertility, but this is known to be unreliable. 

I wouldn't worry too much about the wings still being on, just because I have a Lasius niger colony with around 1K workers, and the queen still has part of her wings on.

Good luck!