5 replies to this topic

[Shifty189]

1. Location (on a map) of collection: Martin county Florida
2. Date of collection: 4/22/2018
3. Habitat of collection: dirt road
4. Length (from head to gaster): 4mm
5. Color, hue, pattern and texture: red, like a fire ant
6. Distinguishing characteristics: it’s very red. So much I thought she was a fire ant worker
7. Distinguishing behavior: unknown
8. Nest description: unknown
9. Nuptial flight time and date:unknown

I collected her thinking she was a fire ant worker, but turned out I was wrong.

[VoidElecent]

This is a Pheidole queen.

[Omni]

The pictures are pretty dark, so its hard to get an idea. There are roughly 4  Florida Pheidole species that would match that. My best guess is Pheidole megacephala given the dirt road and red description. I could give a more positive ID with brighter photos of the head and body.

[Shifty189]

I think these will be the best that I will be able to get with my set up. Thank you both for your replies.

Edited by Shifty189, May 6 2018 - 5:18 PM.

[Omni]

Those should do! That's actually Pheidole floridana. They're highly distributed throughout Florida, have some good variation between majors, and are super manageable. Workers and majors are very small and the queen is very adaptable. A friend of mine has a colony that's lasted a year with VERY little maintenance. They kinda just do their thing. I love this species, enjoy!

 

I'd recommend looking at some pictures of this queen though (you can find many), their more orange (ish) thorax is a wonderfully easy way to identify them. Let me know if this doesnt seem to match, Florida has so many red-ish Pheidole it can be a nightmare to identify them without a close up.

 

Hope this helps! 

[Shifty189]

That helps a lot. Thank you!