Pognomyrmex cf. subdentatus Queens 5/22/2018
During the past month, my friend and I have visited a small trail head in the Santa Cruz mountains two time to catch queens of the genus Pogonomyrmex. We believe that the species we have caught is Pognomyrmex subdentatus, but we are not 100 percent sure on the identification. For this reason, this post is titled Pogonomyrmex cf. subdentatus queens. The "c.f" means "resembles" in ant taxonomy, and is used when one is not sure of the exact species, but has an educated guess on it.
These ants are one of the few species of harvester ants in the bay area. There are only four documented species across the entire bay, 2 of which have never been kept by ant keepers. These harvester ants will harvest seeds from their territory, and store them in huge underground granaries. These seeds will then be shelled by the powerful jaws of the workers of this genus, and the resulting nutritious seed will be fed to the workers, larvae, and queen. These ants also help disperse seeds of native plants that they harvest from. This is because they do not eat all of the seeds they harvest, as some end up germinating. This makes them important parts of their local ecosystem. These ants have a very powerful sting, which is why certain precautions need to be taken while keeping them. Fortunately, they aren't great climbers so escapes are unlikely.
During our two visits, we managed to catch a total of 12 queens. The first time we went, it was quite cold, but we managed to dig up 6 queens from their founding chambers, which are the small nests that the queens dig themselves. They can be identified by a fan shape of dirt, about the two inches in diameter. This shape can vary greatly depending on what species of ant dug the hole though. The second time we went, we managed to dig up a few from founding chambers, and were also lucky enough to catch some foraging queens. These queens were quite hard to tell apart from workers, as some are only a hair bigger. The key difference between the two castes is that the queens have much larger thoraxes than the workers, that house the wing muscles that it used during it's mating flight.
During this trip, we also managed to find some nests of species that we do not usually find in the South Bay. For example, we found Myrmecosystus mimicus, and Myrmecosystus testaceus, which are honeypot ants (I made a post about them here). Although we did not find any honeypot queens, since this it is not currently their mating flight season, we were thrilled to find an accessible location with a population of them. This is very useful, because in the future, we can pin down their flights by analyzing the weather in the area. Ants tend to fly after rain, and during heatwaves, and if these conditions coincide with their mating season, there is a good chance that they will fly. We also managed to find a new species in the genus Formica, which is most likely parasitic. I really like parasitic species of this genus, due to their large size, unique behavior, and unique colors. Next time I go there, I will be sure to take some pictures of these different ants.
Out of the 12 queens we caught, one of them was misplaced during the windy ride home, and unfortunately, we found it deceased later. My friend kept 5 of the resulting queens, and I got 6. So far, I have had one mortality, and that queen was one that was attacked by feral ants roaming around in my ant room. My friend has had more moralities than this, but he still has a good number of queens left.
I currently have 2 of them housed in ant-farm-style formicaria (ant-nests), and three in test tube setups within a foraging area. The foraging area is especially useful for these queens, as unlike most other queens that I have caught, these queens will actually forage for food during the founding stages, to feed their young. Since these ants are prone to eating their young under stress, I have refrained from photographing them. One June 7th, I will look at some of my queens for the first time since catching them, and will post pictures of what they look like here.
If I do manage to get a colony going, I will be extremely happy. These ants are some of the most active and energy-filled ants I know of, and have unique behaviors (Such as seed harvesting), that cannot be found in very many other ants. If I do manage to raise a large colony, and I have access to another one (be it another large colony of mine, or one of my friend's), I would want to try a captive breeding experiment to try and get these ants to mate in captivity, which would yield me a good supply of queens every year.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed and learnt something new!
These ants are one of the few species of harvester ants in the bay area. There are only four documented species across the entire bay, 2 of which have never been kept by ant keepers. These harvester ants will harvest seeds from their territory, and store them in huge underground granaries. These seeds will then be shelled by the powerful jaws of the workers of this genus, and the resulting nutritious seed will be fed to the workers, larvae, and queen. These ants also help disperse seeds of native plants that they harvest from. This is because they do not eat all of the seeds they harvest, as some end up germinating. This makes them important parts of their local ecosystem. These ants have a very powerful sting, which is why certain precautions need to be taken while keeping them. Fortunately, they aren't great climbers so escapes are unlikely.
During our two visits, we managed to catch a total of 12 queens. The first time we went, it was quite cold, but we managed to dig up 6 queens from their founding chambers, which are the small nests that the queens dig themselves. They can be identified by a fan shape of dirt, about the two inches in diameter. This shape can vary greatly depending on what species of ant dug the hole though. The second time we went, we managed to dig up a few from founding chambers, and were also lucky enough to catch some foraging queens. These queens were quite hard to tell apart from workers, as some are only a hair bigger. The key difference between the two castes is that the queens have much larger thoraxes than the workers, that house the wing muscles that it used during it's mating flight.
During this trip, we also managed to find some nests of species that we do not usually find in the South Bay. For example, we found Myrmecosystus mimicus, and Myrmecosystus testaceus, which are honeypot ants (I made a post about them here). Although we did not find any honeypot queens, since this it is not currently their mating flight season, we were thrilled to find an accessible location with a population of them. This is very useful, because in the future, we can pin down their flights by analyzing the weather in the area. Ants tend to fly after rain, and during heatwaves, and if these conditions coincide with their mating season, there is a good chance that they will fly. We also managed to find a new species in the genus Formica, which is most likely parasitic. I really like parasitic species of this genus, due to their large size, unique behavior, and unique colors. Next time I go there, I will be sure to take some pictures of these different ants.
Out of the 12 queens we caught, one of them was misplaced during the windy ride home, and unfortunately, we found it deceased later. My friend kept 5 of the resulting queens, and I got 6. So far, I have had one mortality, and that queen was one that was attacked by feral ants roaming around in my ant room. My friend has had more moralities than this, but he still has a good number of queens left.
I currently have 2 of them housed in ant-farm-style formicaria (ant-nests), and three in test tube setups within a foraging area. The foraging area is especially useful for these queens, as unlike most other queens that I have caught, these queens will actually forage for food during the founding stages, to feed their young. Since these ants are prone to eating their young under stress, I have refrained from photographing them. One June 7th, I will look at some of my queens for the first time since catching them, and will post pictures of what they look like here.
If I do manage to get a colony going, I will be extremely happy. These ants are some of the most active and energy-filled ants I know of, and have unique behaviors (Such as seed harvesting), that cannot be found in very many other ants. If I do manage to raise a large colony, and I have access to another one (be it another large colony of mine, or one of my friend's), I would want to try a captive breeding experiment to try and get these ants to mate in captivity, which would yield me a good supply of queens every year.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed and learnt something new!
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