Queen ID: San Jose, California, United States on May 30th

Help with identifying the species your ants

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ShiroCookies
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 10:53 pm

Queen ID: San Jose, California, United States on May 30th

Post: # 37679Post ShiroCookies
Wed Jun 13, 2018 11:14 pm

I'm assuming these are pavement ant tetramorium species but they are more black than brown. They were also found near cement in my backyard.

Found in San Jose, California, the United States on May 30th.
I measured them using a measuring tape with 3/8 cm I think and it's about 3.75 MM.

I don't have a very good camera so I took a couple images and the one I'm taking the image of is already been dead for a couple days. It was hard to take an image of the live queen ants as they are in an orange/green medicine jar.
Though so far I've got two queens that are currently laying since I don't have the test tubes I ordered yet. :(

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Last edited by ShiroCookies on Wed Jun 13, 2018 11:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

EarthStudent
Posts: 42
Joined: Thu May 17, 2018 9:48 pm
Location: Eastern Iowa

Re: Queen ID: San Jose, California, United States on May 30th

Post: # 37699Post EarthStudent
Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:47 am

That looks like a male to me not a queen with it's tiny head.

ShiroCookies
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 10:53 pm

Re: Queen ID: San Jose, California, United States on May 30th

Post: # 37704Post ShiroCookies
Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:38 am

Ah, I didn't know and I noticed when I looked at the queens! I think the queens are a little bigger about 4 MM I think.
I tried taking an image of her, did my best with the camera I have.
Also it's been about a week and few days now I think since I moved her into the medicine jar. Laying quite a lot of eggs.
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So all those winged ones I caught that died were actually males now I think about it. Since I been feeding those dead ones to my carnivorous plant.

EarthStudent
Posts: 42
Joined: Thu May 17, 2018 9:48 pm
Location: Eastern Iowa

Re: Queen ID: San Jose, California, United States on May 30th

Post: # 37706Post EarthStudent
Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:11 am

Head size is a dead give away for me when identifying males. I'm still learning all this myself and my understanding is that in "general" males have noticeably smaller heads and large eyes in relation to the head size and males have a large thorax compared to the gaster, thorax being the same size or larger than the gaster. Queens generally have a larger gaster than thorax although I believe this is not always the case depending on species. Males also die soon after mating and will basically always have it's wings where as queens will tear their wings off some time after mating. Again, I'm not very experienced in ant identification so you probably don't want to take what I say to the bank. I'm sure others here can correct anything I miss spoke about.

So you have her in a medicine bottle? How are you providing humidity/water and air exchange?

ShiroCookies
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 10:53 pm

Re: Queen ID: San Jose, California, United States on May 30th

Post: # 37709Post ShiroCookies
Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:39 am

I tried to set the medicine jar like the test tube but it was too wide to block the water, so instead, I used a lot of cotton balls for the water and it looks like it still moist since I last checked awhile ago. As for the cap I use a lot of cotton balls as well to cover and a little bit of masking tape to keep it in place.
I ordered the AC Test Tube Portal v2, Basic AC Test Tube Pack and AC Plug Pack about 5 days ago. But it may be a few more days until they are shipped considering the Plug Pack said needed 1 week before being shipped. Now that I have two laying queens I may just have to order extra of each haha.

ShiroCookies
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 10:53 pm

Re: Queen ID: San Jose, California, United States on May 30th

Post: # 37791Post ShiroCookies
Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:50 pm

I'm going to assume 100% these are tetramorium immigrans now.

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