Pheidole Queen? El Paso Tx Aug

[SouthWesternAnts]

Hi, I just caught this queen ant and was wondering what species it is. I caught this queen near the El Paso TX area today and I think this is a type of pheidole species but am unsure of which one specifically or if it's a different ant species all together. She has a black to very dark brown/reddish color to her and has some spines coming out of her end of her thorax. She has a very rigid/sharp figure to her. I included a picture I found online(https://www.ants-kalytta.com/Formiche-Asia.html?f=P#)of an ant queen that resembles the one I have caught but the description said it was a Pheidole sp. and that it was from Asia but not specifically which species.

Thanks.

https://imgur.com/a/xHBKsx8

[Good2Know15]

Hi, I just caught this queen ant and was wondering what species it is. I caught this queen near the El Paso TX area today and I think this is a type of pheidole species but am unsure of which one specifically or if it's a different ant species all together. She has a black to very dark brown/reddish color to her and has some spines coming out of her end of her thorax. She has a very rigid/sharp figure to her. I included a picture I found online(https://www.ants-kalytta.com/Formiche-Asia.html?f=P#)of an ant queen that resembles the one I have caught but the description said it was a Pheidole sp. and that it was from Asia but not specifically which species.

Thanks.

https://imgur.com/a/xHBKsx8

Perhaps you found a leafcutter Acromyrmex sp queen Looks pretty similar to me, it's a very awesome species. Try to take a better picture from the side

Here's a picture for comparison:

[SouthWesternAnts]

Hi, yeah it does look like a type of leaf cutter ant queen I took some new pictures of the queen and she seems to have some larvae in her mandibles hopefully she has some fungus with her. Now that I look her she's a dark brown color with two orange circles in her gaster. I'll try to find out what exact species it is. Thanks for identifying her as a leaf cutter.

https://imgur.com/a/QWX4GEL

[Good2Know15]

Hi, yeah it does look like a type of leaf cutter ant queen I took some new pictures of the queen and she seems to have some larvae in her mandibles hopefully she has some fungus with her. Now that I look her she's a dark brown color with two orange circles in her gaster. I'll try to find out what exact species it is. Thanks for identifying her as a leaf cutter.

https://imgur.com/a/QWX4GEL

No problem I don't live in America and I've never kept leafcutter ants, so I can't tell the exact species. All I know is that it's definitely an Acromyrmex sp queen. These beautiful leafcutter ants are difficult to raise in the first few weeks, because you need to provide her the exact temperature and humidity levels for the fungus to grow. Acromyrmex ants are known to grow to a smaller colony size than their cousins Atta sp. They don't reach 10.000+ workers like Atta colonies do and they don't have these 'super majors' with big heads, yet they are still impressive to observe

I wish you good luck with identifying this queen and raising her!
PS: Could you keep us updated on the colony's growth? Like make a blog on AntsCanada's forums? Thank you

[SouthWesternAnts]

No problem I don't live in America and I've never kept leafcutter ants, so I can't tell the exact species. All I know is that it's definitely an Acromyrmex sp queen. These beautiful leafcutter ants are difficult to raise in the first few weeks, because you need to provide her the exact temperature and humidity levels for the fungus to grow. Acromyrmex ants are known to grow to a smaller colony size than their cousins Atta sp. They don't reach 10.000+ workers like Atta colonies do and they don't have these 'super majors' with big heads, yet they are still impressive to observe

I wish you good luck with identifying this queen and raising her!
PS: Could you keep us updated on the colony's growth? Like make a blog on AntsCanada's forums? Thank you

If the queen gets some workers I'll definitely try to keep a journal about their progress and I believe the queen might be a Acromyrmex versicolor due to her color patterns. Right now she has a larvae or egg a seen in the picture in her mandibles. I added a small leaf that she cut up in two so hopefully some fungus begins to grow soon.

[ArizonanAnts]

That is Acromyrmex Versicolor. I know this very well because I caught 3 of them this year.