San Angelo Texas - Queen __?
Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 11:24 pm
Yesterday (September 30, 2017) I went on a walk with a few friends to our college campus cafeteria. I was unsuccessful in finding queens for Pogonomyrmex Barabatus this year, and was still a bit bummed about it. I saw a large, black ant wandering around, but despite the rain of the day before I was not considering that it was a queen. One friend and I went back to the room ahead of the others, and it is thanks to his sight and interest when I talked about the ants that I found my queens at all! He spotted a dead elate being carried away by fire ants, and we were looking at the large, black ant. I was confused, as I knew there were nuptial flights but did not expect to see any elates.
Just past him, to the left, I saw a wandering black ant, a bit bigger.
She went onto my hand easily, didn't bite or run away from me at all. I am very excited to see her colony grow! However - I have only ever looked at Pogonomyrmex ants, as I was hoping to keep native ants. Being as I found this species in the wild, I am relieved that the ants are native.
I have some suspicions as to what she is - however, my research was exclusively over P. Barabatus, and thus I turn to you.
INFO:
Where
San Angelo, Texas within the United States.
I found them on the ASU campus in between twin rows of trees near a parking lot. They were on the sidewalk. (I found 3 queens here, all the same.)
When
Saturday, September 30, 2017. About 6 pm
Measurement - Body characteristics
I cannot accurately measure at this moment. Will edit with a measurement once I have borrowed my roommate's measuring tools
Appeared black on the sidewalk and outside, but the yellow light in the room made them appear more reddish
Photos:
I have 4 from when I first caught her-
She laid eggs between the time I caught her and October 1st. You can find those pics here:
Question to you:
I put her into a small tube originally after catching her, and transferred her over to a test tube setup later that night. Overnight she laid her eggs, and I became overjoyed with this. Now I find myself wondering how to set up an outworld. I won't need it for a while, but I will eventually. How do I go about making an outworld suited to this ant species? While I will not immediately need it, I would like to start working on it so that it is ready when the ants are ready.
Just past him, to the left, I saw a wandering black ant, a bit bigger.
She went onto my hand easily, didn't bite or run away from me at all. I am very excited to see her colony grow! However - I have only ever looked at Pogonomyrmex ants, as I was hoping to keep native ants. Being as I found this species in the wild, I am relieved that the ants are native.
I have some suspicions as to what she is - however, my research was exclusively over P. Barabatus, and thus I turn to you.
INFO:
Where
San Angelo, Texas within the United States.
I found them on the ASU campus in between twin rows of trees near a parking lot. They were on the sidewalk. (I found 3 queens here, all the same.)
When
Saturday, September 30, 2017. About 6 pm
Measurement - Body characteristics
I cannot accurately measure at this moment. Will edit with a measurement once I have borrowed my roommate's measuring tools
Appeared black on the sidewalk and outside, but the yellow light in the room made them appear more reddish
Photos:
I have 4 from when I first caught her-
She laid eggs between the time I caught her and October 1st. You can find those pics here:
Question to you:
I put her into a small tube originally after catching her, and transferred her over to a test tube setup later that night. Overnight she laid her eggs, and I became overjoyed with this. Now I find myself wondering how to set up an outworld. I won't need it for a while, but I will eventually. How do I go about making an outworld suited to this ant species? While I will not immediately need it, I would like to start working on it so that it is ready when the ants are ready.