Colorado Nupital Flights

Where and when are you finding queen ants? A section to share nuptial flight schedules by ant species and locality

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Cal113
Posts: 80
Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2017 8:49 pm
Location: Louisville, Co

Re: Colorado Nupital Flights

Post: # 23701Post Cal113
Thu Jun 29, 2017 1:24 am

I was gone for a week in mexico and on my walk today I saw another Pogonomyrmex queen so I think they definitely flew while I was gone. Maybe some other species as well ...
Keeper of:

x3 Tetramorium caespitum queens (small colonies);
x1 Pogonomyrmex barbatus (med colony)
x1 Formica fusca single queen; (small colony)
x2 Unknown sp.; (founding)
x1 Temnothorax rugatalus (med colony)

Battles

Re: Colorado Nupital Flights

Post: # 23710Post Battles
Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:23 am

aww you should have grabbed her up

OmegaDamian

Re: Colorado Nupital Flights

Post: # 23737Post OmegaDamian
Thu Jun 29, 2017 6:52 pm

Success! I finally happened across some Pogonomyrmex queens today just before it started hailing. I found 4 in total today! I'll be posting pictures soon!

Battles

Re: Colorado Nupital Flights

Post: # 23753Post Battles
Fri Jun 30, 2017 12:31 am

Congrats! that's awesome! I hope they all pull through for you!

Cal113
Posts: 80
Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2017 8:49 pm
Location: Louisville, Co

Re: Colorado Nupital Flights

Post: # 23986Post Cal113
Tue Jul 04, 2017 4:39 pm

Niice, I just found another tetramorium queen :D :D That means I have three of them now!

BTW, OmegaDamian, you want to make sure whether they're claustral or semiclaustral, some Pogo.'s like barbatus are claustral and some aren't like occidentalis.
Keeper of:

x3 Tetramorium caespitum queens (small colonies);
x1 Pogonomyrmex barbatus (med colony)
x1 Formica fusca single queen; (small colony)
x2 Unknown sp.; (founding)
x1 Temnothorax rugatalus (med colony)

User avatar
ACaseoftheMondays
Posts: 73
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2017 11:54 am
Location: Northern Colorado

Re: Colorado Nupital Flights

Post: # 24422Post ACaseoftheMondays
Tue Jul 11, 2017 6:35 pm

Nice. There was a huge flight of tetramorium by me the other day. There were probably over a thousand (pic 1), and they were landing all over me. I didn't collect any of them, as I have a ton already. Incidentally, if anyone near me wants some Tetramorium queens, I have about a dozen right now that are all just getting their first round of nanitics. (pic 2) They are so incredibly tiny. Image
Image
I finally found some Pogonomyrmex queens, although I'm pretty sure I grabbed them while they were out foraging. I didn't get any of the brood, so I don't know if it will work out or not. I need to get some seeds for them.
Founding:
Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis
Solenopsis Molesta
Formica Argentea
Lasius Flavus
Colonies:
Tetramorium sp.E

User avatar
colo3000
Posts: 58
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2016 3:32 pm
Location: Longmont, CO

Re: Colorado Nupital Flights

Post: # 24618Post colo3000
Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:54 pm

I caught 3 queens yesterday, that I'm thinking are tetramorium. I found them all just running around on the sidewalk in front of my house after it rained in the afternoon! Here's a picture I got of one. You can see she's already layed eggs.
Image
-Colo3000

OmegaDamian

Re: Colorado Nupital Flights

Post: # 25715Post OmegaDamian
Thu Jul 20, 2017 12:32 am

Sorry for the late reply, I've been meaning to get back and thank you @Cal113! After digging around for a while I found them to be Pogo. occidentalis! Thanks for the advice on the non-claustral status of this species, it was a huge help!

Edit: Almost every queen I've caught this year has eggs now! I'm super excited to see what this year has in store!

User avatar
ACaseoftheMondays
Posts: 73
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2017 11:54 am
Location: Northern Colorado

Re: Colorado Nupital Flights

Post: # 27101Post ACaseoftheMondays
Thu Jul 27, 2017 8:26 pm

Saw lots of nuptial flights happening this afternoon about 5 p.m. You could see them flying in the sunlight. I caught 5 of what I believe to be Solenopsis Molesta.

Image
Image
Founding:
Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis
Solenopsis Molesta
Formica Argentea
Lasius Flavus
Colonies:
Tetramorium sp.E

Cal113
Posts: 80
Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2017 8:49 pm
Location: Louisville, Co

Re: Colorado Nupital Flights

Post: # 28548Post Cal113
Wed Aug 09, 2017 5:18 pm

This is sweet, I haven't checked in for a while and it awesome how many people have found queens 😁 I have seen a bunch of flights and about for pogonomyrmex occidenalis queens foraging. I was in Austria for a while and saw soo many queens there including some beautiful camponotus queens who were black and red. I also finally cought some Formica queens today, I think they're Formica fusca but not positive. 🤣

Yesterday the parasitic species Lasius latipes or claviger also flew XD
Keeper of:

x3 Tetramorium caespitum queens (small colonies);
x1 Pogonomyrmex barbatus (med colony)
x1 Formica fusca single queen; (small colony)
x2 Unknown sp.; (founding)
x1 Temnothorax rugatalus (med colony)

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