Rules & Requirements for Asking for Identification of Ant Species
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 11:50 am
Greetings ACAF,
Welcome to the Ant Species Identification Center - a place where we can help you determine what species of ant you may have. However we must inform all those wandering into this area of the forum, of the rules and requirements when asking what species of ant you may have.
All we ask are three things in order to identify your ant species:
1) We require a closeup, clear photo of the ant. If possible a camera with Macro setting is the most preferred. For some ant species to be identified it requires an examination of some very minute details like the situation of hairs, shapes of body parts, and for some species an examination under a microscope of internal anatomy! Blurry photos or photos where you cannot see clear details of the ant cannot be used to identify your ant properly.
2) We also require the locality (city/region/country) and date that your ant was caught. The place from which the ant was caught and the date (i.e. date of the nuptial flight from which she had mated before you captured her) gives us clues as to what species she is.
3) Body length in mm and other visual or behavioural characteristics you can provide can give us a good idea as to what species she is, if she looks like she can be several different potential species.
4) Helpful to provide city/region/country and date in the title of the post. So rather than sift through all the ID requests, those who have some knowledge in doing so can quickly see where they can be most effective in offering help. Typically one's ability to identify queens is localized to areas where he/she has lived.
Without these above requirements it is difficult to properly identify your ants, and people will probably end up asking for the three above requirements if you do not provide them initially.
Please feel free to also watch this tutorial on Ant Taxonomy which you may find super helpful (please excuse and forgive my gross "juvenile" outfit. It was filmed 6 yrs ago):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWg0f6YgdKo
Thanks, everyone!
Welcome to the Ant Species Identification Center - a place where we can help you determine what species of ant you may have. However we must inform all those wandering into this area of the forum, of the rules and requirements when asking what species of ant you may have.
All we ask are three things in order to identify your ant species:
1) We require a closeup, clear photo of the ant. If possible a camera with Macro setting is the most preferred. For some ant species to be identified it requires an examination of some very minute details like the situation of hairs, shapes of body parts, and for some species an examination under a microscope of internal anatomy! Blurry photos or photos where you cannot see clear details of the ant cannot be used to identify your ant properly.
2) We also require the locality (city/region/country) and date that your ant was caught. The place from which the ant was caught and the date (i.e. date of the nuptial flight from which she had mated before you captured her) gives us clues as to what species she is.
3) Body length in mm and other visual or behavioural characteristics you can provide can give us a good idea as to what species she is, if she looks like she can be several different potential species.
4) Helpful to provide city/region/country and date in the title of the post. So rather than sift through all the ID requests, those who have some knowledge in doing so can quickly see where they can be most effective in offering help. Typically one's ability to identify queens is localized to areas where he/she has lived.
Without these above requirements it is difficult to properly identify your ants, and people will probably end up asking for the three above requirements if you do not provide them initially.
Please feel free to also watch this tutorial on Ant Taxonomy which you may find super helpful (please excuse and forgive my gross "juvenile" outfit. It was filmed 6 yrs ago):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWg0f6YgdKo
Thanks, everyone!