ID these ants of the Mojave Desert
I hope that someone familiar with the ants of the Mojave Desert can help identify a species that is quite common here. The workers have two casts: the minors are very small, like Monomorium and...
View ArticleRe: ID these ants of the Mojave Desert
DrLizard: Hi and welcome to the message board.I am sure someone will be able to answer your question soon. /\___/\ / /\ /\ \ Ant (AntDude -- Your Host) from The Ant Farm's Message Board.| |o o| | \ _...
View ArticleRe: ID these ants of the Mojave Desert
That's most likely a Pheidole of some kind. There are several species in your area. Antweb may be of some help:www.antweb.org/description.do?rank=genus&name=pheidole&project=calants
View ArticleRe: ID these ants of the Mojave Desert
I agree with Myrmecos, that certainly sounds like a Pheidole. The only really common "dark" species out in the mojave seeems to be P. tucosnica"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one...
View ArticleRe: ID these ants of the Mojave Desert
I can't find this species listed on the CAS site.All other Pheidole are much lighter in color, and we do have some of those - but much rarer.
View ArticleRe: ID these ants of the Mojave Desert
True, it's not there, even under the correct spelling of Pheidole tucsonica.But, I'm sure Mrmacophyl can suggest another possibility. He knows the ants of that area better than any other of our...
View ArticleRe: ID these ants of the Mojave Desert
Hmmm, I would expect that one to be there at least, P. tucsonica is considered by some to be a subspecies of P. xerophila., which also does occur in the Mojave. One other possibility is P. barbataThe...
View ArticleRe: ID these ants of the Mojave Desert
Thanks for the link.That certainly looks like it. I did not realize that the minors of Pheidolewere so small.
View ArticleRe: ID these ants of the Mojave Desert
Wilson in his recent monograph synonymized the Arizona/California/Baja CA species tucsonica with the Texan species xerophila. That makes xerophila the valid name for the ant until further work is...
View ArticleRe: ID these ants of the Mojave Desert
Always mucking around and changing things. Thanks myrmecos, I thought that might be the case, however I didn't have Wilsons work handy to check., aye Taxonomy rules
View ArticleRe: ID these ants of the Mojave Desert
The rules can be a pain, but I'd rather have 'em than not have 'em.
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