10 replies to this topic

[Antsinmycloset]

Found today around 4:30 PM wandering across a sidewalk in Northeastern Kansas following a morning shower. The area was adjacent to a rather wooded creek and a well manicured field around a baseball diamond. Urban area nearby, too, so really a lot of overlap. Had several little red mites on her legs that were very annoying to move. Wondering if it was too windy and she's infertile, but going to give it a shot anyway.

She's 6mm long in that position, but could probably be 7mm if she stuck her gaster out straight. Uniformly a dull, deep redish color. Kind of obvious in the photo, but two petioles. It looks a lot more petite/less bulky in person. An artifact of the crummy photos, I suppose.



I really need to get a digital camera with a manual focus. I'm assuming it's Aphaenogaster, but can't tell if it's parasitic or not. Are there any easy ways to know for sure? I'm making very little progress with Google images.

Edited by Antsinmycloset, October 10 2016 - 8:39 PM.

[Batspiderfish]

Myrmica sp.

[Alabama Anter]

Definitely Myrmica spp. They r semi claustral!!!

[Batspiderfish]

Definitely Myrmica spp. They r semi claustral!!!

 

Just so you know, spp. means "species pluralis", for when you are talking about multiple species from a given genus. If we are looking at one Myrmica queen, it is Myrmica sp. This would even apply if there were multiple queens from the same species (although, with Myrmica, this would be very difficult to determine).

Edited by Batspiderfish, October 11 2016 - 6:25 AM.

[Antsinmycloset]

Just curious, are you guys basing this on overall body shape? I'm trying to get better at identifying to the genus level, but well, I clearly have room for improvement.

[Batspiderfish]

Overall shape, the time of year, your location, and the size of the queen.

[CallMeCraven]

Just curious, are you guys basing this on overall body shape? I'm trying to get better at identifying to the genus level, but well, I clearly have room for improvement.

Body shape and other characteristics such as petiole length, number of petiole sections, # of antennae sections as well as other things can help hammer down genus. I assume most people here identifying ants have a lot of knowledge and time in doing so. Here is an example of a dichotomous key from University of Texas that can help you determine characteristics to look for.

 

http://www.sbs.utexa...ants/antkey.pdf

*Note this is just an example of a key used for ant ID. its use is situational and heavily dependent on being used for some ants in Texas.

 

Dichotomous keys can sometimes be confusing for the uninitiated based on who wrote it and the various formats they can come in, but generally, as long as you follow the numbers, are fairly intuitive. I use them daily in my job an an ecological site specialist for the gov, and find them extremely invaluable. So much so I convinced my boss to buy me a set of keys that cost $600 with nothing but plants in them. Yay keys!

Edited by CallMeCraven, October 11 2016 - 10:07 AM.

[Canadian anter]

Just curious, are you guys basing this on overall body shape? I'm trying to get better at identifying to the genus level, but well, I clearly have room for improvement.

Body shape and other characteristics such as petiole length, number of petiole sections, # of antennae sections as well as other things can help hammer down genus. I assume most people here identifying ants have a lot of knowledge and time in doing so. Here is an example of a dichotomous key from University of Texas that can help you determine characteristics to look for.
 
http://www.sbs.utexa...ants/antkey.pdf
*Note this is just an example of a key used for ant ID. its use is situational and heavily dependent on being used for some ants in Texas.
 
Dichotomous keys can sometimes be confusing for the uninitiated based on who wrote it and the various formats they can come in, but generally, as long as you follow the numbers, are fairly intuitive. I use them daily in my job an an ecological site specialist for the gov, and find them extremely invaluable. So much so I convinced my boss to buy me a set of keys that cost $600 with nothing but plants in them. Yay keys!

HaHa I use general body shape, color and size

[Batspiderfish]

Those specific characteristics are important, but we couldn't see any of them in the picture, so we had to rely on more crude differentiators.

[Alabama Anter]

For me it's just exp and time of year lol

[CallMeCraven]

Those specific characteristics are important, but we couldn't see any of them in the picture, so we had to rely on more crude differentiators.

 

 

 

 

Just curious, are you guys basing this on overall body shape? I'm trying to get better at identifying to the genus level, but well, I clearly have room for improvement.

Body shape and other characteristics such as petiole length, number of petiole sections, # of antennae sections as well as other things can help hammer down genus. I assume most people here identifying ants have a lot of knowledge and time in doing so. Here is an example of a dichotomous key from University of Texas that can help you determine characteristics to look for.
 
http://www.sbs.utexa...ants/antkey.pdf
*Note this is just an example of a key used for ant ID. its use is situational and heavily dependent on being used for some ants in Texas.
 
Dichotomous keys can sometimes be confusing for the uninitiated based on who wrote it and the various formats they can come in, but generally, as long as you follow the numbers, are fairly intuitive. I use them daily in my job an an ecological site specialist for the gov, and find them extremely invaluable. So much so I convinced my boss to buy me a set of keys that cost $600 with nothing but plants in them. Yay keys!

HaHa I use general body shape, color and size

 

One day I hope to have the experience and confidence to do it your way . Until then I will probably keep over analyzing.