with João Nunes and @thijsvalkenburg
Equipment: LEICA M205-A stereoscopic microscope and software
LASX image stacking
Funded by project: EQC2018-004655-P
Author: Pedro J. Sandoval (University of Granada, Spain)
I was doubting a bit about the species because of the angled propodeum. But according to the density of hairs on the abdomen and habitat it does not seem to be F. gagatoides
Posterior margin of head with numerous standing setae. nCH>4
(not uralensis, not gagates/fusca/lemani)
nPe: 1
nHFfl: 7 (on left and right leg)
petiole narrower
length: 9 mm
Other ant colony nearby:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/68113939
differs from the more common B. chinensis by the relatively broader petiole but this seems to be hard to recognize on live specimens due to larger size of chinensis
found in greenhouse
Yeah, this one.
Setae well paired and organized.
Propodeum lacking setae.
Metanotal groove complete but very shallow.
6 teeth, mandibles striated? not sure.
Legs and antennae elongate and lack standing hairs.
Since other similar species like Nylanderia otome or Nylanderia yambaru are dumped under Nylanderia, I'm still flagging it under Nylanderia. For now....
2.5 mm, in a branch about 3 m above ground inside a tropical greenhouse in ZOO Lešná.
The Yucatan greenhouse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx41VIEzSX0
in some places it is open and connected to the outside
A colony of ants busy moving their pupae on the trunk of a camphor tree
found in greenhouse, ergatoid male Technomyrmex cf. vitiensis
Cataglyphis bombycinus ?
About 25 mm long. Matthew, I have emailed you re these.
When touched, this ant produced a kind of foam.
adrenaline booster
Same nest as:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/177784305
Keys to C. cursor, erect hairs on scape and gaster nearly absent compared to C. piliscapa.
piliscapa: https://www.antweb.org/bigPicture.do?name=casent0911106&shot=h&number=1
cursor from s. France: https://www.antweb.org/bigPicture.do?name=casent0106260&shot=h&number=1
Seems to be the known disjunct population of C.cursor found northwest of Madrid, separated from the France population. Mitochondrial analysis indicates it may be a separate species:
https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3013514/v1_covered_49badf57-856b-4056-9167-b5a9cf51e460.pdf?c=1686032146
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/030519789090036F
cool loking large one
on wooden railings
Rainha, macho e operária.
Queen, male, and worker.
Fotografados em uma pesquisa de campo. Soltos onde foram encontrados.
Photographed in a biology field research. Released back to the nature.
So, this is a polyergus bilateral gynandromorph! ½ worker caste (red), ½ alate (black). The mandibles, eyes, single wing, and antennae are the more obvious caste traits reflected in each half of this individual. Found them shortly after leaving the colony possibly (I found one a few feet away).
See: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/124878696
& https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/124879042
body length: 2 mm
Found by: Levente Tóth, individuals were collected from an indoor nuptial flight.
There was a strange, amorph one-eyed worker with 18 normal one.
CL/CW: 0,87303315
For some reason, this F. yessensis also rushed out the F. sanguinea colony. Very intrigued what her fate would have been
❗ A completely unusual reddish pattern queen of this species ❗
Alates readying for flight almost at sundown
pictures now almost 5 years old
this colony has seen better years and are starting to dwindle lately
this colony has its sequences somewhere in genbank btw
oznorMB
So... these ants. did not expect the first ants to see in the middle east to be Iridomyrmex*es.
Regarding the *"invasive" I. anceps records outside of Australia, specimens from Indomalayan regions turned out to be separate native lineages while New Zealand populations were later reidentified to be suchieri. Now only a handfull of localities are left with introduced anceps records, and the Iridomyrmex I've found in Dubai were keyed out to be suchieri and I personally think all other records could also actually be not anceps
They seemed to be enjoying the similar warm dry weather, with no other dolichoderin to compete. Picture qualities suck as I wasn't really patient enough to wait for good shots and cropped out from far focused pictures.
The queen in the colony is a Formica rufa-group wood ant. Very unusual.
Numerous ants of the same species observed on the plant (Still to be identified) - Distinct from other ants on the plant by the black head and Gaster. There appears to be a distinct white/silver band(s) across the abdomen.
Out of 9 examined nests, two contained a large amount of secretomorph workers (once known as pseudogynes). Only these two nests contained the myrmecophilic rove beetle Lomechusoides strumosus.
Pima County, AZ, US.
Third Danish record. In nest of Tetramorium caespitum
Une fourmilière sous une pierre plate, avec au moins un reine (dét. conf. par R. Blatrix)