East Bay Spring Anting (3/29/2021)

-

     Yesterday afternoon, I took a trip to the East Bay area to look for Pogonomyrmex subdentatus queens. This species has their mating flights once in the spring, and once in the fall. It had gotten quite warm in that part of the bay area, with temperatures around 80F. Usually, this is warm enough to trigger their flights, so I left home and arrived at my first location around 1PM.


    Unfortunately, the first location I checked had plenty of colonies, but did not yield any queen ants. I noticed that it was very hot at this location, likely warmer than what was reported. This made me suspect that the temperature readings in the region were slightly off, and that they might have flown during the previous heatwave. In the future, I will be sure to account for the inaccuracy of the forecasts in this area.


    Luckily, the second location I visited was in a more hilly area, where the temperatures were noticeably cooler. I suspect that it did not get warm enough for Pogonomyrmex to fly here during the previous month's heatwave, and so when temperatures approached 80F the colonies started to fly. I observed some queens digging their claustral chambers, and found a few scurrying around on the ground. 


    Here is one of the chambers that was being excavated by a queen:


    

    The crescent shaped dirt pile centered around a small hole is very typical of both Myrmecocystus  and Pogonomyrmex spp. queens. In many regions, these founding burrows present some of the best opportunities to find queens. 

    One of the P. subdentatus queens I caught during the trip:



    Over the course of approximately 40 minutes, I collected five of these Pogonomyrmex queens. I hope to raise some of them to maturity and attempt captive breeding experiments with the resulting colonies. Already, I have two colonies that are producing alates in captivity, so I hope to start experimentation as early as this autumn.


   



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Experience Raising Honeypot Ants 3/9/2020

-
Image
     Throughout the years I have kept ants, honeypots have been one of my favorite types of ants to raise. Here in California, our native honeypot ants are all of the genus Myrmecocystus . These ants are visually stunning, producing large food-filled workers called repletes. Here are some repletes of one of our native species,  Myrmecocystus mexicanus :        Generally , honeypot queens will have a captivity success rate of less than 25%, which make them very hard to keep. In the years I have been raising ants, I have kept five unique species of them, all native to California. In this post, I will describe in detail the methods, tips and tricks I use to raise honeypot ant colonies. Founding       The  most difficult part of raising honeypot ants is the founding stage. Certain species, such as Myrmecocystus navajo , aren't too temperamental during this stage. However, others, such as Myrmecocystus mexicanus  are. ...
Read more

Species Profile: Camponotus fragilis

-
Image
    California is one of the most diverse states in terms of ant species. One of the most unique species native to California is Camponotus fragilis . These ants are known for their distinctive yellow coloration, which is uncommon among the Camponotus  species in California. They are one of the fastest growing Camponotus species , and are a great species for beginner and expert antkeepers alike. Species Name: Camponotus fragilis Photos: Camponotus fragilis colony with their first major worker Difficulty:  Beginner California Distribution:      This species is found in abundance throughout the deserts of southern California. Species Description:       This species is one of the few yellow Camponotus  species present in California. These ants usually nest under rocks or debris in desert regions. They have colonies that get quite large, with some colonies in captivity having several thousand workers. This species is monogynous, which m...
Read more

Myrmecocystus mexicanus: California's Largest Honeypot Ants 1/18/2019

-
Image
     During the summer of 2019, I was fortunate enough to go on a trip to the Mojave Desert. While the deserted landscape may seem desolate, it is teeming with an abundance of creatures, if you look in the right places.      One of the best times to see desert life is right after a monsoon storm, which often take place in the summers. These storms drop immense amounts of rain in a short time, which often causes flash floods. However, these rains can also trigger the nuptial flights of ants, where the reproductive males and females fly out of the nest in search of a mate.      Luckily for me, I visited the desert at the perfect time. A storm had come through and dropped multiple inches of rain over some easily accessible desert. Upon arrival to the sites which had received the most rain, I was able to find queens of many different species. One of the species I collected was Myrmecocystus mexicanus, the largest species of honeypot ant in Ca...
Read more