10 replies to this topic

[FSTP]

Hi So today I "rescued" some ants. A friend informed me of some ants he knew of that were living under a log/brush pile on his property and that if I wanted I could come get them because he was going to have his ranch hand clear everything out for burning later on when/if they get burn permission. 

 

So I head over and when I get there his ranch hand has already started and was spraying down the pile with some kind of pesticide,he had mixed in oa pressure sprayer, he doesn't speak english so I couldn't figure out what he was spraying. So in a panic I asked him to stop so I could look under the logs and stuff. I did find a largish colony, so I stared collecting as much as I could of the ones that were still alive luckily the queen(what I'm assuming is the queen) was isolated and I grabbed her first then started sucking up the ants that were carrying brood. All in all I managed to get 100+ workers and whatever brood they were carrying. By the time I got home more then half had died. Now I have about 20 or so workers and whatever brood they were holding.

 

I left them in a large container misted them with water to try and wash off any lingering pesticide that they may have had. and after it dried I managed to get the surviving ants into a test tube.

 

 

 

heres the collection info

 

Location: Fresno, CA

Date 12/17/16

habitat: under a 3' x14" oak log with other various branches piled upon it

Queen Size: About 10mm

worker Size: about 4mm

 

The queen is a black to dark brown with an interesting brownish sheen to her gaster when the light hits it from certain angles.

 

The workers panic easily and run around erratically then quickly settle and surround their remaining brood. 

 

Some of the workers are acting a bit strange but I think that still might be effects of whatever was being sprayed on the log/brush pile.

 

I didn't think to take pics while I was collecting them I was a bit distracted with the fact he was killing the ants I came to save and such but I've got them in a test tube now and here are some pics...

 

Also once i got them into the test tube I introduced them to some sunburst ant nectar and they immediately started to drink it up and one could see their gaster swell, so that was neat. 

 

 

 

 

I realize the pictures are bad, but here are the workers.

 

 

and workers with queen

 

 

[Kevin]

Lasius sp.

[Alabama Anter]

Lasius sp.

Agreed.

[SamKeepsAnts]

Lasius

[FSTP]

this is what I figured but wasn't sure on the species. 

 

I found a few more worked dead this morning but so far the queen seems ok and is guarding the brood. I may try placing them in one of the new founding chambers I made if their numbers continue to diminish.

Edited by FSTP, December 18 2016 - 2:18 PM.

[Connectimyrmex]

It looks like Lasius Niger.

[Alabama Anter]

Lasius niger are present in CA according to AntMaps, but I would wait for BatSpiderFish

[Batspiderfish]

It does look like Lasius, but we can't see her very well. The range of Lasius niger is not clear -- I've only ever seen one positive ID from somewhere in the rockies. Most instances of Lasius niger are probably misidentifications.

This is most likely Lasius pallitarsis.

[Alabama Anter]

See? BatSpiderFish always nails it!

[AnthonyP163]

It does look like Lasius, but we can't see her very well. The range of Lasius niger is not clear -- I've only ever seen one positive ID from somewhere in the rockies. Most instances of Lasius niger are probably misidentifications.
This is most likely Lasius pallitarsis.

It could also be Lasius Neoniger, but they are a bit less common in CA. The same goes for Lasius Flavus and Lasius Alienus. But Lasius Pallitarsis is the most common out of all of them in CA.

[LC3]

 

It does look like Lasius, but we can't see her very well. The range of Lasius niger is not clear -- I've only ever seen one positive ID from somewhere in the rockies. Most instances of Lasius niger are probably misidentifications.
This is most likely Lasius pallitarsis.

It could also be Lasius Neoniger, but they are a bit less common in CA. The same goes for Lasius Flavus and Lasius Alienus. But Lasius Pallitarsis is the most common out of all of them in CA.

 

Lasius neoniger although it can be found along the west coast is much more abundant in the east.