Colony ID

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carsonman99

Colony ID

Post: # 24093Post carsonman99
Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:01 am

Image

Location: Indiana
Housing: Found under tree stump
Size: similar to average Camponotus worker size.


Very large colony found under tree stump, I'm assuming it belongs to the Camponotus Genus but did not see any majors.

Martialis
Posts: 1576
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2016 5:30 pm
Location: Indiana

Re: Colony ID

Post: # 24095Post Martialis
Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:37 am

Camponotus is a diverse genus, with workers ranging from 4-5mm in length all the way to almost 20mm. Can you provide clearer measurements, please?
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carsonman99

Re: Colony ID

Post: # 24099Post carsonman99
Fri Jul 07, 2017 10:41 am

If i had to guess maybe 5-6 mm and the queen is not much bigger just has that thicc thorax. :lol:

Martialis
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Location: Indiana

Re: Colony ID

Post: # 24100Post Martialis
Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:09 am

Did you collect all the workers? This almost seems like Formica to me.
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carsonman99

Re: Colony ID

Post: # 24101Post carsonman99
Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:21 am

I went back out and tried to gather more but there are probably nearly a thousand and yeah at second glance I realized they are Formica. I's say i collected around 20ish for the queen and put her into a plastic container with some honey, lunch meat, and 2 test tubes full of water. It worries me that they are acting as if the entire container is their nest because she is laying eggs in the open rather than the test tubes.

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Batspiderfish
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Re: Colony ID

Post: # 24107Post Batspiderfish
Fri Jul 07, 2017 1:27 pm

Looks like Formica incerta. It is not a good idea to collect wild colonies, especially ones that are this well developed.
If you enjoy my expertise and identifications, please do not put wild populations at risk of disease by releasing pet colonies. We are responsible to give our pets the best care we can manage for the rest of their lives.

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FarrAnts
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Re: Colony ID

Post: # 24112Post FarrAnts
Fri Jul 07, 2017 4:06 pm

Batspiderfish wrote:
Fri Jul 07, 2017 1:27 pm
Looks like Formica incerta. It is not a good idea to collect wild colonies, especially ones that are this well developed.
Could it hurt them? Or the environment?
Ball is life... Ants included.

Martialis
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Location: Indiana

Re: Colony ID

Post: # 24114Post Martialis
Fri Jul 07, 2017 4:37 pm

Both, especially in the southern states. It allows room for other ant species (not necessarily native, i.e. Solenopsis invicta in the South, Tetramorium caespitum here) to nest and outcompete other colonies.
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Batspiderfish
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Re: Colony ID

Post: # 24127Post Batspiderfish
Fri Jul 07, 2017 8:33 pm

This particular species is not at ecological risk, but the practice of searching for and capturing wild colonies can put some rare ants and other animals (i.e. moths, beetles, amphibians) at risk.

Many new ant keepers see mature colonies as a shortcut, but then fail to take care of a queen and worker sample by either lacking knowledge and experience or the inability of the mature colony to adapt to captivity (or adapt to being removed from the larger colony).

I always recommend that ant keepers start their colonies from foundress queens after a nuptial flight.
If you enjoy my expertise and identifications, please do not put wild populations at risk of disease by releasing pet colonies. We are responsible to give our pets the best care we can manage for the rest of their lives.

carsonman99

Re: Colony ID

Post: # 24142Post carsonman99
Sat Jul 08, 2017 8:03 am

The queen is doing fine now. The colony found the bigger test tube I put in and decided to nest in it. Now they are back to business as usual.

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