Central Texas - late March

[megabob]

We had some rains and then a hot day, and oila! Flying ants! It's like magic...]

I saw one right outside my window so I went out and grabbed what I thought were 2 different queens at first, but after a little bit of thought, I realized I probably grabbed a male and female from the same flight. Probably an unmated female too. Ah, well. Looks like Solenopsis Invicta to me. Very common around here.

What do you think? Am I totally off base?

[Tethiner]

I am in southeast Texas and was having some of that very same magic mid march.
Big girl does look like a Solenopsis invicta the smaller one is probably a male, but the head looks too big compared to the ones I have around here.

Don't let the wings = unfertilized myth fool you. Its generally true, but not always. I have seen numerous queens caught with wings that have gone on to produce great colonies. Most of the queens I catch lose their wings in the test tube.