Identify queen ant from California

[Syannia]

Hello,

I've just caught this queen ant in Davis, California at 8PM 5/25/2020. The ruler in the photo is in centimeter. Please let me know if this is a queen. If so, which species is it?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mtmjYV7lru1j-35IG8RTitzZ4P74yhFS/view?usp=sharing

Thank you so much

[PheidoleForever]

That is definetly a queen. I am not an expert but im pretty sure thats pheidole sp. I live in California too and I caught some yesterday.

[Syannia]

That is definetly a queen. I am not an expert but im pretty sure thats pheidole sp. I live in California too and I caught some yesterday.

Thank you so much! Is this species fully claustal?

[PheidoleForever]

Thank you so much! Is this species fully claustal?

yeah it is. you can tell if a species is claustral or not from the gaster/head. Claustral species have large gasters and small heads because all they do is sit in a hole, while semi claustral species have smaller gasters and bigger heads with mean jaws because they go out and hunt. If you want to learn more you can watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdUp4kIYlzY

[QJH2023]

pheidole spp.

[Syannia]

Thank you so much! Is this species fully claustal?

yeah it is. you can tell if a species is claustral or not from the gaster/head. Claustral species have large gasters and small heads because all they do is sit in a hole, while semi claustral species have smaller gasters and bigger heads with mean jaws because they go out and hunt. If you want to learn more you can watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdUp4kIYlzY

Thank you so much PheidoleForever. One of them laid some eggs already. I was wondering how do you know it is Pheidole? What are some characteristics of Pheidole queen? I would like to be able to identify them myself in the future.

[QJH2023]

pheidole has the following characteristics note the antenna of the ant see how their almost at the front of the ant. raised thorax. note the last petole on the ant see how it looks like a large ring.

[Syannia]

pheidole has the following characteristics note the antenna of the ant see how their almost at the front of the ant. raised thorax. note the last petole on the ant see how it looks like a large ring.

Wow! Thank you so much! That was really helpful. From what I've researched, these ones will have majors with large head right?

[QJH2023]

that is correct they don't call them big headed ant for nothing