Massachusetts Flight Sightings

[Martialis]

Why do I have a subscription to this thread..

Whoops.

[Nathant]

Alright then. Can't wait till spring haha

Feb 1 is tomorrow. In theory P. Imparis could be flying in just a few weeks. Once we hit the end of March, should start seeing the parasitic Lasius start to look around for colonies to invade. However the real flights really don't start until May for the most part for Campanotus and such

I might try picking up some C. novaeboracensis when Camponotus season starts. I get bored of C. Pennsylvanicus too. Will also be on the lookout for P. imparis.

[Nathant]

I might try picking up some C. novaeboracensis when Camponotus season starts. I get bored of C. Pennsylvanicus too. Will also be on the lookout for P. imparis.

C. novaeboracensis amd C. americanus flew at the same time for me as C. pennsylvanicus, but where I live it was probably vast majority C. pennsylvanicus (like 50:1 ratio). The Camponotus Myrmentoma flew a week or two before the big flights of C. pennsylvanicus, however they also flew with them at the end of May. So may actually see some flights of the Myrmentoma in early May now that I think of it. All those flights started an hour or two before sunset, and continued long after dark.

Cool, thanks!

[zkublin]

Hey all! Sorry for the delay in voting to keep this thread going but I totally want to keep this. I am so pumped to see so many people helping to keep this thread up to date and informed!

[animalmaster14]

Hey I know its really early in terms of nuptial flights, and I'm new to keeping ants, so I have no idea when ants begin their nuptial flights in Massachusetts. It would be great if anyone could give me a list of species and nuptial flights, and if you're feeling extra generous known locations of species in Mass. Particular species of interests for me are:
Camponotus castaneus
Pheidole Pilifera
Myrmica (Rubra/Americana)
Formica

Any or All information is welcome, thanks for your time in advance

[Nathant]

Hey I know its really early in terms of nuptial flights, and I'm new to keeping ants, so I have no idea when ants begin their nuptial flights in Massachusetts. It would be great if anyone could give me a list of species and nuptial flights, and if you're feeling extra generous known locations of species in Mass. Particular species of interests for me are:
Camponotus castaneus
Pheidole Pilifera
Myrmica (Rubra/Americana)
Formica

Any or All information is welcome, thanks for your time in advance

I'm looking for Myrmica rubra, too! They nest in wet forests, mostly in dirt I think. I have a forest 1 mile away that seems to mirror their habitat perfectly, so I'll go looking there when it is flight time.

[animalmaster14]

So I did some research on Myrmica rubra and apparently in the northeast they don't typically have nuptial flight but increase by budding. They gain new territory from people accidentally transporting them. So our best bet might be to find an established colony and digging for a queen, considering they have multiple ones it shouldn't be too hard, but then again this is my first time.

Also do you guys have any tips for catching specific queens? because I'm guessing they can't all be so straight forward

[Batspiderfish]

I have not done an ID on them yet, because these would need to be dead, but three of the queens I presume to be Myrmic rubra were found a short distance from their nest during nuptial flight conditions. Their primary dispersal may be through budding, if that is what evidence indicates, but the queens do fly from the nest and can found colonies on their own.

[Nathant]

People in IL thought P. Imparis may be flying today as warmed up (though they are speculating as no positive ID at what they saw or if truly alates.) Regardless I never equated early flights when temps just get into the 60s for them for the first times in the season. Do they fly when snow is on the ground?

I sure hope so in this weather

[Nathant]

This doesn't have much to do flight wise but I was talking to my friend the other day and he said he found Pheidole by an open sandy area in the Dracut Lowell state forest once. He doesn't know much about ants but you can't mistake pheidole. This is probably helpful since we never see them here. Cool thing is this forest is a mile from me.