9 replies to this topic

[NanceUSMC]

So, I'm standing outside in the parking lot here at work on a personal call, and notice a large ant walking towards me...  From 20 feet away I can tell this is gonna be my first wild caught queen....  I take 2 steps towards her..................................................

 

And a car pulls into the lot and smashes her..................  *sigh*

 

Sure enough, she was a queen...  I can't tell what kind, but I'm suspecting Solenopsis Invicta (which I don't want to keep anyway, but still)...  =\

 

The hunt continues.....

[Hunter]

lol sadness

[Connectimyrmex]

Aw, that's a shame. Better luck next time. If its any reassurance, that could have been a Camponotus major or a velvet ant.

[ultraex2]

Dang, crushed right before your eyes... ahh, thanks stinks!  Keep at it, you'll get one eventually!  During Formica season this year the only Formica Pallidefulva queen I caught (With larvae, so I knew it was fertile) escaped when I took the lid off the tube and looked away for like 5 seconds.  

[Connectimyrmex]

Actually, something similar to this happened to me once (I found a C. variegatus queen in Hawaii, it got stepped on by a classmate)

[NanceUSMC]

Dang, crushed right before your eyes... ahh, thanks stinks!  Keep at it, you'll get one eventually!  During Formica season this year the only Formica Pallidefulva queen I caught (With larvae, so I knew it was fertile) escaped when I took the lid off the tube and looked away for like 5 seconds.  

 

Ouch!!  Bolted on ya! =(

 

Aw, that's a shame. Better luck next time. If its any reassurance, that could have been a Camponotus major or a velvet ant.

 

Sadly, she was definitely a queen...  I was able to retrieve the corpse right after she got flattened, and the thorax was a dead giveaway with the scarring and size...  I'm relatively confident she was an Invicta queen (thanks Google!), and i'd have simply let her go on her merry way...  But it did suck...  probably sucked more for her than me, though...  heh

[Connectimyrmex]

Yep, rest in peace.

You should try looking for Atta texana next year! I heard that their flights are pretty much impossible to miss in some areas. 

[NanceUSMC]

Yep, rest in peace.

You should try looking for Atta texana next year! I heard that their flights are pretty much impossible to miss in some areas. 

 

 

Would LOVE to stumble across a nuptial flight of them here in North Central Texas!

[Connectimyrmex]

Looks like they pop up in Northern Central Texas occasionally! Good luck!
 

[T.C.]

At least it was just S. invicta. The first queen I found in the spring my dog stepped on so I feel your pain.