9 replies to this topic

[Dukagora]

In the 2 videos below my daughter happened to catch, by our food sources for the outdoor ants we have, a major, or what I refer to as one, killing what appears to me to be a minor. I at first assumed these ants who mostly worked side by side, were of the same species and colony. The honey is at the base of my house with a crack between it, the stucco and the downspout for water run off from the roof. After seeing this, I am thinking in fact they might be two separate colonies. After this major finished her off, well...mangled the minor and walked away, she retreated to this crack. The difference in distances is only about 40 feet from where I feed the honey and the nest I located that they all seemed to be moving back and forth to. Nearly all of these ants disappeared early today as well and I assumed because of the storm that looked like it was going to hit, but has simply passed.

 

The first video is VERY brief and I am quite disappointed I dropped the phone, scaring off the slightly larger major who looked more powerful than the first.

 

 

This video however shows the major either decapitating or trying to crush the head of the minor worker. Quite brutal actually. The only other idea I can come up with is maybe the minor had some residual honey on her head and the major decided that the minor was a food source? Really not sure!

 

 

These ants are from my other Ant ID request thread.

 

http://www.formicult...ants-up-for-id/#3.

 

After reading dspdrews care sheet on Forelius pruinosus, I think that might be the species but I am not sure.

 

Either way the only purpose of this thread is to share these videos as I was quite surprised watching this. The major walked off camera shortly after. I intended to put the minor out of its misery as it was still moving around very poorly but when it became stuck to the toothpick I had, I allowed the major to finish her off. The major didn't and instead pulled the minor off the pick, and left her to die on the sidewalk. There was certainly a fight prior to this as the minor was trying to bite the major on the back of the head at one point but those massive jaws weren't going to be stopped.

Edited by Dukagora, October 23 2018 - 6:51 PM.

[Dukagora]

Well when I went outside about 30 minutes ago it appears a small war was occuring. Between that and reviewing my #3 photos, the coloration is different and there might actually be two species who were fighting over the honey resources which explains the further carnage I found when I went outside. Noone seemed interested in the honey at the time. Now that the dust has settled ants are returning to the honey. There are a lot of majors outside now on the pavement. During some of the fighting I saw, there were several majors and some minors holding an ant similar to the one in the videos above. They all appeared to be stretching the one ant. 

 

I also managed to get photos of another ant species described in my other ID post with some strange behavior from them also, but maybe not so strange to someone with more ant experience.

 

This ant was carrying the other but by the end of it all I am not sure why.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then some measurements finally.

 

Looking like 9-10mm

 

 

 

They finished by seemingly butting into each other and then went their separate ways.

 

 

And this last video was just interesting because she posed for me for some time, until I bumped the concrete just right and she bolted. I had a tough time apparently knowing the difference between taking a photo during recording and the stop button, but I still managed to get this which I enjoyed. Sorry for the camera shifting for those motion sensitive!

 

 

Anyway, if nothing else....enjoy!

Edited by Dukagora, October 23 2018 - 8:24 PM.

[Dukagora]

Also apologies as I started this thread as a decapitation video (when I read that it sounds really strange) and added some unrelated stuff, at least unrelated beyond happening within the space of a few hours and on the same evening.

 

Also for those curious, I only have an S7 Edge and have been trying to figure out how to get better photos. Despite the size of the yellow ants I still can't get refined enough for antennae segment counts. For a lot of these photos I ended up finding an Insignia kit for cell phones for about $20 from Walmart that attaches to your phone. Clips over the existing lens. Only issue is I have to remove the case to use it. Well maybe not, but I was able to see the edges of the added lens in photos so prefer to remove the case, which does expose the phone to damage if you aren't careful. Dropping the phone etc. In chasing these ants for usable photos its easy to drop such a thin phone, even just a few inches from the ground. Either way with my limited photo experience I don't know that it would be possible to get as detailed as I have for these shots. Beyond this, I this a camera upgrade would be needed to get better shots, the point of better shots being of course for easier ID.

[DaveJay]

In the 2 videos below my daughter happened to catch, by our food sources for the outdoor ants we have, a major, or what I refer to as one, killing what appears to me to be a minor. I at first assumed these ants who mostly worked side by side, were of the same species and colony. The honey is at the base of my house with a crack between it, the stucco and the downspout for water run off from the roof. After seeing this, I am thinking in fact they might be two separate colonies. After this major finished her off, well...mangled the minor and walked away, she retreated to this crack. The difference in distances is only about 40 feet from where I feed the honey and the nest I located that they all seemed to be moving back and forth to. Nearly all of these ants disappeared early today as well and I assumed because of the storm that looked like it was going to hit, but has simply passed.

The first video is VERY brief and I am quite disappointed I dropped the phone, scaring off the slightly larger major who looked more powerful than the first.



This video however shows the major either decapitating or trying to crush the head of the minor worker. Quite brutal actually. The only other idea I can come up with is maybe the minor had some residual honey on her head and the major decided that the minor was a food source? Really not sure!



These ants are from my other Ant ID request thread.

http://www.formicult...ants-up-for-id/#3.

After reading dspdrews care sheet on Forelius pruinosus, I think that might be the species but I am not sure.

Either way the only purpose of this thread is to share these videos as I was quite surprised watching this. The major walked off camera shortly after. I intended to put the minor out of its misery as it was still moving around very poorly but when it became stuck to the toothpick I had, I allowed the major to finish her off. The major didn't and instead pulled the minor off the pick, and left her to die on the sidewalk. There was certainly a fight prior to this as the minor was trying to bite the major on the back of the head at one point but those massive jaws weren't going to be stopped.

As far as I know only the genus Pheidole has majors with heads like that. Whether you're looking at a few different species I don't know, I'm not an expert by any means but that head is hard to miss!

[Dukagora]

Thank you DaveJay and I think you are right. Looking at alexanderwilds pheidole photos it certainly fits! Also after looking over alexanders photos for forelius there is one photo that looks just like the small battles that took place last night on my sidewalks. I suppose its possible that maybe there are colonies of both species in my yard but without better photos I probably won't be able to say for sure.

[Dukagora]

DaveJay do you know how common it is for colonies of the same species to fight over resources? I suppose probably not since many other species of animal will fight for resources instead of working together. I probably need to find some time to research this stuff myself but that is usually easier said than done.

[Dukagora]

Well nevermind. I looked at the other photo more closely....and of course there was a description of what was happening once I clicked on the photo and it describes the other ant as a harvester...

[YsTheAnt]

I don't think any of these are Forelius. The first post shows a Pheidole major worker, and the second a Camponotus sp, within the festinatius group.

[Dukagora]

Ok excellent thank you YsTheAnt. Feedback much appreciated! I will research the 3 species of ants so far identified and will work on the other one that I can't currently find photos of! Haven't seen them around my house at all lately so no idea where they ran off to.

[Dukagora]

I actually think now that they are Forelius and Pheidole. Within 50 feet of each other and they fought over the honey resource. If you follow the link to my ID request list which was rather large, you can see the other workers around the honey gathering en mass and they are certainly different from what very much looks like Pheidole . At the time I assumed they were the same when I asked for ID but looking at #3 in the ID request thread they look different for sure. neoponera suggested it could be forelius or dorymyrmex, both of appear to be found in Arizona, but I am guessing not much study has been done on ants in this area. Either way without collection of individuals and a lab I will probably never have a definitive answer though I have appreciated all that have taken a shot at it! At least I have an idea of what to expect based on the suggestions should I find queens next year!