The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Caught today July 15 Stratford Ontario Canada.

I've been scrolling through this for over an hour and I'm no closer to figuring out what i caught https://insectsofsouthernontario.ca/category/ants/

Thanks for helping me out.

https://imgur.com/a/uzPFV8z

https://imgur.com/a/rSSi2ny

I'm guessing these 2 are males
https://imgur.com/grkYUmQ

Is that ruler in mm or cm?

inches
So they are all about11-13mm long

Formica sp.

We'll need photographs showing how many segments of the gaster have a matte of silvery hairs on them, as well as an image of the ant's face.

I'm not so sure the "male" isn't a queen from the one photograph. Can we have more? Images from the side help.

Darn, I always get these two species confused.

MorbidBugg wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 15, 2018 2:16 pm

Darn, I always get these two species confused.

One of them actually does kinda look like Camponotus, but I assume by her close proximity to a Formica queen that they are the same species or at least genus.

Batspiderfish wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 15, 2018 2:27 pm

MorbidBugg wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 15, 2018 2:16 pm

Darn, I always get these two species confused.

One of them actually does kinda look like Camponotus, but I assume by her close proximity to a Formica queen that they are the same species or at least genus.

I assume that was your reason for requesting the specific pictures of the head was for a more definitive Identification? Don't mind me picking your brain...

MorbidBugg wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 15, 2018 2:39 pm

I assume that was your reason for requesting the specific pictures of the head was for a more definitive Identification? Don't mind me picking your brain...

The two main features for identifying fusca-group Formica is the hair density on the gaster and the length of the antennal scapes in relation to the length of the head (excluding mandibles).

Ive updated a few more pictures in the original links with some more shots but the last link wont update so here's a new onehttps://imgur.com/a/fBIgGrV of the would be 2 males. Ill note the one with the more slender pointed gaster is perhaps dying. Upon closer inspection of the tube with 3 in it is seems 1 of them might be different. Let me know if these are detailed enough and or witch ants you need better shots of.

I did some google foo! and Formica sp. kind of confused me as I did not see many sp. Formica results. certainly not any with information specific to Formica sp. Does sp. stand for something specific or is it a scientific suffix? I referenced the above linked site for my local species and none matched sp.

I also looked here http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Formica_species_groups and this immediately goes over my head in complexity.

Thanks for your patience.

Cichlid