Name that Ant #142 (8 May 2011) in Old Name That Ant (NTA) Forum

0 Points

Name that Ant #142 (8 May 2011)

Author	Comment
Harpegnathos	Name that Ant #142 (8 May 2011)		Lead	[-]
Posts: 1349 05/07/2011 11:32 PM U.S. Army VeterANT/Soldier	It has been a long time since the last NTA, and I was hoping somebody on the forum would have one to host. Since that hasn't happened, I dug into my photo archives and found this creature, from a rotten log in Georgia. H
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
ABM		#1	[url]	[-]
Henchant Posts: 1007 05/09/2011 5:02 PM	OK, I'll take a stab. The ant looks familiar from my past thumbings through Fisher and Cover but I have not collected this ant. The antennal club pattern and only having a petiole puts me in mind of ponerine ants, Ponera or Cryptopone. I'd vote for a Cryptopone based on where you found her, C. gilva, and from what little I can see of the teeth on the mandibles. But this is a guess. I am only pretty sure that she is a ponerine and in one of these genera.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Doctorant		#2	[url]	[-]
Posts: 3789 05/10/2011 10:40 AM Doc. and Soldier Ant	ABM -- Psst, "gilva" means yellow or golden.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
ABM		#3	[url]	[-]
Henchant Posts: 1007 05/10/2011 6:42 PM	OK, so you guys aren't as color blind as my chemistry professor led me to believe...I hadn't thought about the color, I was thinking about the rotten log. So, maybe, Ponera pennsylvanica...I thought this at first but decided against it. I don't remember why. Am I close? At least I got the right family. (Lol) Edited 2 times by ABM 05/22/2011 5:20 PM.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Pheidole pilifera		#4	[url]	[-]
Henchant Posts: 1016 05/10/2011 7:11 PM	ABM wrote: OK, so you guys aren't as color blind as my chemistry professor lead me to believe...I hadn't thought about the color, I was thinking about the rotten log. So, maybe, Ponera pennsylvanica...I thought this at first but decided against it. I don't remember why. Am I close? At least I got the right family. (Lol) I am pretty sure it isn't Ponera pennsylvanica. I believe P. pennsylvanica is normally black; although there could be color variations.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Pheidole pilifera		#5	[url]	[-]
Henchant Posts: 1016 05/10/2011 7:13 PM	Pheidole pilifera wrote: ABM wrote: OK, so you guys aren't as color blind as my chemistry professor lead me to believe...I hadn't thought about the color, I was thinking about the rotten log. So, maybe, Ponera pennsylvanica...I thought this at first but decided against it. I don't remember why. Am I close? At least I got the right family. (Lol) I am pretty sure it isn't Ponera pennsylvanica. I believe P. pennsylvanica is normally black; although there could be color variations. Actually, now that I look on AntWeb, it looks like there are color variations......
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
ABM		#6	[url]	[-]
Henchant Posts: 1007 05/10/2011 7:18 PM	Well, what do you think now, Pheidole pilifera? (Hey, should I italicize your name?) I'm not sure the head shape is right.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Chuck		#7	[url]	[-]
Henchant Posts: 1021 05/11/2011 6:22 AM	I was also thinking Ponera pennsylvanica and I did find a colony of P. pennsylvanica in that piece of rotten stump I was trying to collect termites from a few weeks ago. I agree that the color seems to light for P. pennsylvanica. That led me to think maybe Ponera exotica, so I'll make that my guess. They are definitely lighter colored than P. pennsylvanica and Antweb does say they have been found in rotten logs. My only other thought was Hypoponera opacior, but their stinger is visible in all the pictures I could find of them. My Current Journals: Aphaenogaster fulva Aphaenogaster rudis Camponotus castaneus Camponotus chromaiodes Camponotus pennsylvanicus Camponotus pennsylvanicus (rescued mature colony) Camponotus subbarbatus Formica pallidefulva Myrmica americana Pheidole Ponera pennsylvanica (My current attempt at starting a colony) Edited 1 time by Chuck 05/11/2011 6:24 AM.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
ABM		#8	[url]	[-]
Henchant Posts: 1007 05/11/2011 10:48 AM	I thought about Hypoponera opacior, too but I thought H. opcaior were in dryer habitats. Maybe Ponera exotica but P. exotica seems light in color to me. But the color could be a trick of the photo and the display of the photo.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Teleutotje		#9	[url]	[-]
TAFAMF Addict Posts: 2435 05/12/2011 11:53 PM LibrariANT	According to me, I think Ponera is the better choice of genus. The species... You know, North American species are one of my weaker points in ant determination... Teleutotje " Tell-oo-toat-yeh " " I am who I am , I think ... "
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Harpegnathos	Another image	#10	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1349 05/13/2011 8:57 AM U.S. Army VeterANT/Soldier	This one was taken through the lens of a microscope. H
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Jason		#11	[url]	[-]
Loyal Worker Ant Posts: 598 05/13/2011 6:09 PM	I would say Cryptopone gilva except it doesn't look quite fuzzy enough. However, it does have that really long mandible shape. It's surely not Ponera, Ponera is more elongated and has thicker antennae, and it doesn't have that bump/indentation on the alitrunk/mesasoma thingy (Ponera's is flat). Hypoponera doesn't have the right mandible shape as far as I can see. Its mesosoma isn't as indented as Cryptopone's either. I'm also trying to look at petiole shape; they're different but then again it might just be perspective... Edited 2 times by Jason 05/13/2011 6:19 PM.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
ABM		#12	[url]	[-]
Henchant Posts: 1007 05/15/2011 6:32 PM	You may be on to something, Jason. I think the stinger looks much more like Cryptopone gilva than Ponera pennsylanica. Doesn't Cryptopone have a pit or something at the base of the mandible?
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Jason		#13	[url]	[-]
Loyal Worker Ant Posts: 598 05/15/2011 7:30 PM	I guess stating the obvious can't be all to bad either. It can't be Pachycondyla chinensis because its eyes are too small and the indentation in its mesasoma is too obvious, among other things.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Doctorant		#14	[url]	[-]
Posts: 3789 05/17/2011 1:04 PM Doc. and Soldier Ant	I think y'all are barking up the wrong generic tree...
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Jason		#15	[url]	[-]
Loyal Worker Ant Posts: 598 05/19/2011 8:38 PM	Looking at the second picture again, what is that bubble-looking thing on the petiole? Is that the window thing that's diagnostic of Ponera? If so I would call this Ponera exotica. However, it still doesn't look quite like Ponera to me, especially with the shape of the mandibles and such. Edited 1 time by Jason 05/19/2011 8:43 PM.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Harpegnathos		#16	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1349 05/19/2011 9:40 PM U.S. Army VeterANT/Soldier	This Spanish web page points to the fenestra so you can see what it looks like and where it should be: http://www.hormigas.org/xClaves/Ponobr03.htm H
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Harpegnathos		#17	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1349 05/22/2011 12:17 PM U.S. Army VeterANT/Soldier	This identification seems to be more difficult than I expected.... This ant was not collected in Mississippi, but the Mississippi State key can get you to the right species. H
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Jason		#18	[url]	[-]
Loyal Worker Ant Posts: 598 05/22/2011 6:45 PM	Maybe I'll just go with Hypoponera inexorata then...
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Harpegnathos		#19	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1349 05/24/2011 1:08 PM U.S. Army VeterANT/Soldier	Any other guesses?
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Teleutotje		#20	[url]	[-]
TAFAMF Addict Posts: 2435 05/24/2011 1:46 PM LibrariANT	H., if I follow the key of the link you gave, I'm getting to Ponera exotica... Teleutotje " Tell-oo-toat-yeh " " I am who I am , I think ... "
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Add Reply

Yuku free message boards

Name that Ant #142 (8 May 2011)

Name that Ant #142 (8 May 2011)