Springtime Nuptial Flights 5/12/2020

    Here in the Bay Area, a lot of our native ants have their mating flights in the season of spring. While there are a lot of species that have this trait, I personally focus on a few to collect and raise. For me, they are ants in the Camponotus, Myrmecocystus and Pogonomyrmex subgenera.

    Each of these genera has a specific, somewhat unique trait that makes me want to observe and document their behaviors even more. For Camponotus, it is their large majors (soldiers) that they make as the colony progresses. It is exciting to see what triggers their production, and how they serve different roles in the colonies in comparison to normal workers. For the genus Myrmecocystus, their production of large sweet-filled storage ants called repletes make them a joy to keep and observe. In the case of Pogonomyrmex, I really enjoy watching them harvest seeds. They are a type of harvester ant, which makes them one of the handful of genera that will actively search out and store seeds.

    One of my favorite Camponotus species is Camponotus maritimus. The workers are extremely variant and color, and all members of the colony are very shiny in appearance. This species was only described in 2005 by Dr. Phil Ward, and compared to other similar Camponotus species, not very much is known about them. In three years that I have been monitoring their nuptial flights, I find that they usually have their nuptials during the first heatwave of spring. The year's first temperatures of 78F and higher will typically trigger their flights. The largest flights I have observed occur when the temperature is above 80F. During these flight windows, I have observed dozens of queens scattered among oak trees and the ground, usually finding queens after sunset. This year I was lucky enough to find some yet again, here is a photo of one:

     As you can see, Camponotus maritimus are quite shiny, and have relatively stubby legs. These two characteristics are what discern them from the species Camponotus vicinus, to which they are closely related.

    In terms of Pogonomyrmex, I have only located colonies of what I believe are Pogonomyrmex subdentatus thus far in my area. This species has two separate flight windows, early spring and mid autumn. This year, I managed to catch their spring nuptial flight, and collected around half a dozen queens to raise. Unfortunately, they are in dirt setups which makes them difficult to photograph at this time. I will be sure to upload photos of them when they become more visible.

    In the same localities that I have located Pogonomyrmex nests, I also find Myrmecocystus testaceus. This is a species of honeypot ant, and one of the only two honeypot ant species documented in the bay area. This species flies in early spring, typically when temperatures reach the mid-70's for the first time in the year. Most of the time, I find that these temperatures combined with a recent rain in the months of February-March are enough to trigger a flight of this species. This year, I caught a few queens some months ago, and one of them has made it to its first batch of workers. Once the colony gets larger, they will start producing repletes, which honeypot ants are known for. Here are some images of this fledgling colony:

    Unfortunately these ants are quite small, and because of that it is very hard to photograph them, as the macro lens I use reduces the depth of field greatly when imaging such small ants. I will try to get some better photos as the colony progresses.

    These three genera make up my favorite spring-flying ants in the Bay Area, and in my opinion are amazing ants to keep. I hope you enjoyed this post!