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Nuptial flights in northwestern Nevada?

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 9:08 pm
by Formicine
Late last year I started looking for queens. (I forgot about nuptial flight season until a few queens popped up in my back yard in September.)
Has anyone found queens around March-April around Reno? The only queens I found were in late September.
All I found were camponotus semitestacious and pogonomyrmex occidentalis. (Both IDs could be wrong)
I would really like to find some different queens this year, since I only have 3 of the camponotus ants left, and only one pogo queen.
I don't know how, but most of the pogos ended up covered in a white mold.
Now I'm off topic...
So, if you know when some nuptial flights are likely to happen, I'd appreciate some info on where to look.
Thanks!

Re: Nuptial flights in northwestern Nevada?

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:43 pm
by Comnav24
Following here, I'm in the Washoe county area and around this time I usually start seeing some queens on the building on base first thing in the morning. I'll be sure to post photos when they start to show.

Re: Nuptial flights in northwestern Nevada?

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 1:26 am
by Formicine
Comnav24 wrote:
Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:43 pm
Following here, I'm in the Washoe county area and around this time I usually start seeing some queens on the building on base first thing in the morning. I'll be sure to post photos when they start to show.
Thank you! So happy to know there's another ant person nearby.

Re: Nuptial flights in northwestern Nevada?

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:36 am
by Comnav24
Of course, I already have ten stowaways in tube set up...if they start producing workers, then I'll let you know if I capture local queens, maybe I can pass one or two along to you if you don't manage any on your own. :)

Personally I really want honeypot ants ^_^. I think they're really cool.

Re: Nuptial flights in northwestern Nevada?

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 1:03 pm
by Formicine
Managed to get super lucky when looking under rock. Found a super dark crematogaster. No idea what her exact species is, but she laid 7+ eggs the first night in her test tube. AND I found 3 more pogonomyrmex queens. Saw evidence of a queen digging and found them. Still haven't found a dorymyrmex bicolor queen yet though.
And with even more good news, two of the camponotus queens I caught last year have cocooned little ones! (The third queen looks like she's full of eggs, but isn't laying any.)

Re: Nuptial flights in northwestern Nevada?

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:50 pm
by Comnav24
Nice, just stepped out the door at work and saw a Male cruising across the concrete. :) not sure the species though.

Re: Nuptial flights in northwestern Nevada?

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2018 5:36 pm
by Formicine
Nice!
I tried to get that crematogaster queen identified, but I think the first photos I posted were too low quality.
Here she is if you want a look. (Higher quality pics)
http://imgur.com/a/IPyokDs

Re: Nuptial flights in northwestern Nevada?

Posted: Tue May 01, 2018 5:36 pm
by Comnav24
Yeah have been having poor luck tbh :/.

Re: Nuptial flights in northwestern Nevada?

Posted: Tue May 01, 2018 5:41 pm
by Comnav24
She's a good looking queen. Wish I could help ID her but I am actually still learning identification.

Re: Nuptial flights in northwestern Nevada?

Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 12:30 pm
by Comnav24
Just found a big black queen (roughly a 1/2") with an orange splash on the top of her gaster, crawling across the flightline. Super sweet, I was able to coax her on to my hand, and now she is relaxing in a little plastic condiment cup in the cabinet of my desk. I'll post a photo later. ^_^