I have found this ant on my back porch. Closer inspection indicated that it was not an Aphaenogaster. It's thorax was too thick to be one and there is
no spine on it. It is 1/4" long and it's antennas are clubbed. Holding the ant down with a toothpick made the ant make a squeaking sound and it
revealed a stinger.
What kind of ant is it?
0 Kudo
False alarm... No fire ants in Jersey...Yet
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 ShawnLG |
False alarm... No fire ants in Jersey...Yet |
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Young Worker Ant Posts: 32 07/05/2008 11:15 AM |
Last Edited By: ShawnLG 07/06/2008 10:23 PM.
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antdude |
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Posts: 17018 07/05/2008 3:27 PM
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I don't think that is a fire ant.
Quote of the Week: "No, I'd prefer a cooler WITHOUT an ant-door, thank you..." --unknown. Ant/AntDude @
The Ant Farm (Personal Web Site), Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL), and The Ant Farm and Myrmecology Forum.
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MrILoveTheAnts |
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TAFMF Addict Posts: 3121 07/05/2008 3:41 PM |
I want to say a Myrmica of some kind. They look very similar to Aphaenogaster.
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 bobolak |
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Minor Worker Ant Posts: 104 07/06/2008 12:41 AM |
And this is a queen, that's why she is bigger and has a large thorax
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Vendayn |
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Henchant Posts: 1539 07/06/2008 12:08 PM
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Definitely not a Fire ant queen. Not sure what species, though.
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Doctorant |
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Posts: 257 07/06/2008 12:46 PM Doc. and Soldier Ant
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It's not a Solenopsis for sure, but a Myrmica. The species of this genus are hard enough to recognize under ideal conditions, much less
from a single photo. With that coloration, M. pinetorum is a possibility, but I can't see any of the more certain diagnostic characters.
I feel comfortable saying it is not what New Englanders are calling the "northern fire ant", Myrmica rubra, a hard-stinging, European import.
Last Edited By: Doctorant 07/06/2008 12:50 PM.
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ShawnLG |
It's a queen | #6 | ||
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Young Worker Ant Posts: 32 07/06/2008 10:20 PM |
"And this is a queen, that's why she is bigger and has a large thorax
"
You are right, it is a queen I found another one with wings still on it today. It is not a fire ant queen so I do not know what kind of ant this is. 
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bobolak |
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Minor Worker Ant Posts: 104 07/07/2008 12:49 AM |
If any Myrmica live in your area, she is probably one of them. If you wan to keep her remember she isn't fully claustral (look at this small abdomen), so
she needs to be fed with a few small insects to feed the larvae.
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Doctorant |
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Posts: 257 07/07/2008 7:23 AM Doc. and Soldier Ant
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Shawn:
Regarding this: "You are right, it is a queen I found another one with wings still on it today. It is not a fire ant queen so I do not know what kind of ant this is." If you read my reply above, you'll have some idea of which ant this is, including a possible species ID. |
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