The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

the third queen i collected drowned.

so i clean out my collection jars inbetween each time i queen walk. apparently one of the jars had the tiniest amount of water in it, because when i got home, i lined up my queens and my test tubes only to find that one had drowned in a single drop of water. (she was the first of that day, third overall)

i live, i learn.

i am now extremely meticulous when clean the jars, always wiping them bone dry to prevent this from happening again.

She isn't dead!!! It is ridiculously hard to drown queens. Like rlly hard. One drop definitely would not do it. she was just waterlogged. She most likely revive after a while.

ohh she dead.
i had dumped her on a paper towel, cleaned the jar. ate. then took another 45 minute walk.

when i got back she was dry and stretched out on her back, even the whole time after while i was attempting to magnify so i could properly identify.

this was also a week ago, so even if after all that she wasnt, she is now.

Too bad. What species was she?

most likely Solenopsis invicta.
so, like 80% of the ants im finding.

If only Solenopsis molesta was more common down south. They have the capability to kill RIFA colonies. (although I don't think that happens very often) I just feel so bad for the native ants that Solenopsis invicta eats alive.

I do have a LOT of Forelius colonies around my house.
They aggressively kill solo Solenopsis invicta queens.
but only passively compete with established colonies, seems the more of these the less invicta I see, but its slow and they need my help. (like covering the hole of the new nest the invicta were trying to move into under my doorjam with cinnamon....they decided against moving in there )

Forelius sounds so cool. I wish they were common in my area, even though they are native to South Dakota.