Page 1 of 1

Genus/Species Identification. Prenolepis Imparis? Camponotus Castaneus? With photos. Severn, MD, US

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 1:15 pm
by kykel09
Hey everyone.

I need a bit of help identifying this one. She's dark orange in color with long thin legs and long thin antenna. I initially thought her to be a Camponotus castaneus but now I'm not so sure. She's a bit small for a carpenter ant, being about 9-11mm in length. Also, her head doesn't look very camponotus like. Through additional research I came across Prenolepis imparis, and while she looks similar, there are a few things that don't match their either. One, I caught her at the beginning of July. Everything I've found says Prenolepis imparis fly early spring. That aside, her gastor looks a bit small but otherwise she looks very much like a prenolepis imparis.

Opinions? Suggestions? Help?

Pics (The queen is currently in a 17mm wide test tube so it really shows her size):
Image

Image

Image

Image

Re: Genus/Species Identification. Prenolepis Imparis? Camponotus Castaneus? With photos.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 1:21 pm
by TheRealAntMan
Parasitic Formica. She’ll need Formica host pupae to start her colony. (6-12)

Re: Genus/Species Identification. Prenolepis Imparis? Camponotus Castaneus? With photos.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:27 pm
by kykel09
TheRealAntMan wrote:
Tue Jul 17, 2018 1:21 pm
Parasitic Formica. She’ll need Formica host pupae to start her colony. (6-12)
That doesn't make sense. She's already laid a batch of 3 or 4 eggs. Parasite queens won't lay eggs without host workers.
However, your post sparked my interest and I looked into it and came across Formica dolosa and Formica Pallidefulva. Anyone know if these match?

She has the three dots on her head just like the queen in this pic.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/47716
Antwiki: http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Formica_dolosa

Re: Genus/Species Identification. Prenolepis Imparis? Camponotus Castaneus? With photos. Severn, MD, US

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 4:22 pm
by Thorond0r
The three dots on her head are ocelli, light receptors, a sort of "eyes", and almost all queens of all species have these as far as i know...
As for the species, i'm pretty sure it is indeed a Formica but i don't know which one...

Re: Genus/Species Identification. Prenolepis Imparis? Camponotus Castaneus? With photos.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 6:25 pm
by TheRealAntMan
kykel09 wrote:
Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:27 pm
TheRealAntMan wrote:
Tue Jul 17, 2018 1:21 pm
Parasitic Formica. She’ll need Formica host pupae to start her colony. (6-12)
That doesn't make sense. She's already laid a batch of 3 or 4 eggs. Parasite queens won't lay eggs without host workers.
However, your post sparked my interest and I looked into it and came across Formica dolosa and Formica Pallidefulva. Anyone know if these match?

She has the three dots on her head just like the queen in this pic.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/47716
Antwiki: http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Formica_dolosa
Could be infertile eggs. I think it’s a Parasitic ant because of the typical small parasitic gaster. But I could be wrong.

Re: Genus/Species Identification. Prenolepis Imparis? Camponotus Castaneus? With photos. Severn, MD, US

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 7:01 pm
by Batspiderfish
Formica sp. from the pallidefulva group. Just has a small gaster. You might want to consider feeding this one, but sometimes they just look like that.

Re: Genus/Species Identification. Prenolepis Imparis? Camponotus Castaneus? With photos. Severn, MD, US

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 7:32 pm
by TheRealAntMan
Batspiderfish wrote:
Tue Jul 17, 2018 7:01 pm
Formica sp. from the pallidefulva group. Just has a small gaster. You might want to consider feeding this one, but sometimes they just look like that.
Ah that explains why it has a small gaster.

Re: Genus/Species Identification. Prenolepis Imparis? Camponotus Castaneus? With photos. Severn, MD, US

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:00 am
by kykel09
I managed to get 2 slightly better photos. You can more clearly make out blond pubesence on both the head and the gastor. Also, you can more efficiently see her color and her eggs in her mouth.

This photo also kind of illuminates that there is a slight ridge between the segments of her gastor.
Image

Image

I'm quite confident at this point that this is the Formica genus. However, I may need to wait until she has workers to narrow down her species. According to AntWiki, Formica Pallidefulva tends to have a color divide and once you move north they darken to a red/redbrown color. So I feel like it's less likely she's Pallidefulva as she is noticeably orange. That does however still leave a few options I'll need to research farther into.
http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Formica_pallidefulva

Formica incerta - Typically darker in color and often has a black gastor so slightly unlikely as my queen is not bi-colored. Also, predominately a northern species, though has been cataloged in Maryland. Also, these ants tend to be shiny which my queen is a bit dull.
http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Formica_incerta

Formica dolosa - Probably the strongest contender. Dark noticeable orange like mine and also has a smaller appearing gastor with blond pubesence both on the head and the gastor. Consistent coloring and though I can't find a lot of photos, the few I have found definitely show some ridge between the gastor segments. Also, the color isn't shiny, which matches my queen. She's orange but kind of a dull orange.
http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Formica_dolosa

Re: Genus/Species Identification. Prenolepis Imparis? Camponotus Castaneus? With photos. Severn, MD, US

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:47 am
by Batspiderfish
Yes, these options are all from the pallidefulva species group of Formica. Ants from this group also vary pretty wildly in coloration at ranges farther North than Maryland. You are also right that workers are easier to identify.

Re: Genus/Species Identification. Prenolepis Imparis? Camponotus Castaneus? With photos. Severn, MD, US

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:58 am
by kykel09
Batspiderfish wrote:
Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:47 am
Yes, these options are all from the pallidefulva species group of Formica. Ants from this group also vary pretty wildly in coloration at ranges farther North than Maryland. You are also right that workers are easier to identify.
I appreciate all the help so far. I'll just hold off until she has workers and post some photos then to see if that helps narrow it down to a species.