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....
this was likely L. japonicus. still not the sturdy structures of hayashi, but one of the largest construct I've seen for this species
A new species that is being described at the Sertão Myrmecology Laboratory, in Bahia - BR.
basically a Camponotus s.str. with an incised clypeus. I wonder if its just another enlarged Myrmentoma, but mitochondrial trees showed it to be unrelated to Camponotus(Myrmentoma) nipponensis, but again, nipponensis is another odd ball so...
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
What is going on with this nest entrance?
Collected in a small patch of roadside meadow under a stone, in association with Solenopsis fugax (typical form).
The Solenopsis were nested near Lasius flavus, Plagiolepis sp. and Tetramorium impurum colonies.
colony with both long and short wings
As far as I know, no such cases are reported in wild, other than long winged individual alates(not from a colony) found in the states.
Such intraspecies diversities seem to be high in the south east of the peninsula where landbridge formed between Japan in lower sea levels. intriguing
and there's a gynandromorph, of course. Its not the usual half-and-half mosaic, but a patchy one. Possibly caused by the species' unique sex determination systems
interesting hunting behavior where groups of Strumigenys sit together on a leaf
Hair on propodeum
Captive colony bilateral gynandromorph
cool loking large one
on wooden railings
An outdoor colony first discovered in March 2022, seems to still be doing well
The queen in the colony is a Formica rufa-group wood ant. Very unusual.
Received a shipment from Portugal at work and these were inside the shipping container. Wasn’t sure if they were harmless or not
A mix of red and brown individuals in the same nest
This one' going a bit too explicit. Now I can't ignore its propodeum not being round as itoi
Operárias carregando imaturas para fora do ninho. Registro após às 18h30.
An undescribed species of (parasitic?) Forelius. These queens are smaller than pruinosus and have a banding on the gaster resembling that of a honey bee. Possibly Forelius Sp. A, whose workers are extremely similar to F. pruinosus differing by being ever so slightly larger and darker. I’ve found queens all the way down south to Martin County.
exploding ants here looked very odd, but the unsmmetryical pattern seems to be the mandibular glands not like some problem with developments or sth
Found under a very large stone, nesting in vacant termite galleries. Some termites were still present in the chambers most distant from the ants.
An undescribed (this being the first documentation as far as I’m aware) social parasite of Solenopsis pergandei that strongly resembles its host but with several key differences: queens are half the size of S. pergandei queens, have a smaller gaster/eyes, longer hairs, and a larger head relative to thorax. Cooperates in colony foundation alongside freshly mated S. pergandei queens with no apparent aggression.
harassing the Stictoponera
chronological order: 2 3 1
Specimen was purchased -- not collected by me
Labeled as L. ocellifera, now a junior synonym of L. processionalis
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.
Found with @cheetolord02, his observation is linked here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/149703302
seemed that "queen" was not properly following the trail
surprisingly, this Tapinoma does not have a flat petiole.
It was too late when I found out
beetle found in the Labidus spininodis army. wonder how the two guests managed to come close in the shot
Pogonomyrmex occidentalis x maricopa hybrid imaged at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum at a during a recent visit. I forgot to collect more percise locality and date data, next time I visit I will image the specimen label.
raiding a nest of Solenopsidini - photograph by Philip Griffin
Probably an undescribed Subspecies of aurea as papers only state it as "aurea like". 1cm long. thorax and petiole spines are slightly out of the shape seen on P. aurea. Size far larger too. Beating the largest P. aurea queens by 2mm and smallest ones by 3.5mm.