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 Harpegnathos |
Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) |
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Major Worker Ant Posts: 473 09/15/2007 12:22 PM
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This month I am visiting a country that is in its rainy season, and last week under some bright lights I spotted an enormous ant. I scooped it up into the 2 dram vial I was carrying just in case some interesting specimen presented itself. Of course I knew the genus at once, and so would you if you saw it. The beastie is 37mm long. I will post a photo sometime after I get home, but meanwhile, feel free to take a guess....
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bounty80 |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #1 | ||
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Loyal Worker Ant Posts: 591 09/15/2007 1:31 PM
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C. gigas from Borneo?
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MrILoveTheAnts |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #2 | ||
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TAFMF Addict Posts: 3223 09/16/2007 9:27 PM |
Gigantiops?
(not sticky?) |
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 antdude |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #3 | ||
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Posts: 17202 09/16/2007 9:32 PM
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MRILTA: Uh yeah, someone was asleep on the keyboard. [rolls eyes]
"One day he sprained an ankle rather than crush an ant." --Les Miserables /\___/\ / /\ /\ \ Ant (aka AntDude), Your Host & Fearless Overlord| |o o| | \ _ / The Ant Farm, Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL), and this forum. ( ) |
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Teleutotje |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #4 | ||
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Henchant Posts: 1915 09/17/2007 1:23 AM
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Ants vary in length between less than 1 mm (workers of e.g. Carebara) to 6.8 cm (queens of Dorylus, subgenus Anomma, non egg-laying phase) and a wingspan of 13.6 cm (queens of the extinct genus Formicium). So my question, without seeing a photograph, is: What country does this beastie come from and witch caste is it???
Teleutotje
" Tell-oo-toat-yeh " " I am who I am , I think ... " |
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Myrmecos1 |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #5 | ||
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Henchant Posts: 1983 09/17/2007 9:29 AM
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I suspect that Teleutotje is on the right track here. I'll stick my neck out and guess that Harpegnathos has caught a male Dorylus that flew to the light.
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Dr Ant |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #6 | ||
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Posts: 5364 09/17/2007 10:04 AM
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MrILTA:
Gigantiops has really big eyes, but overall, the ant is about the size of a small major worker of our common Camponuts pennsylvanicus, 11-12mm, so It doesnt live up to the 37mm dimensions. Hmmm!--Rainy season in late September.--Where would that be? 
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Myrmecos1 |
hmmmm | #7 | ||
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Henchant Posts: 1983 09/17/2007 10:23 AM
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Quote: Is that what you get when you cross a carpenter ant with a crazy ant? |
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Mrmacophyl |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #8 | ||
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Posts: 3405 09/17/2007 12:00 PM
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Sorry for not sticking I was out of town.
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...."
Isaac Asimov: |
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antdude |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #9 | ||
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Posts: 17202 09/17/2007 12:11 PM
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Mrmacophyl: Vacation or work? [grin]
"One day he sprained an ankle rather than crush an ant." --Les Miserables /\___/\ / /\ /\ \ Ant (aka AntDude), Your Host & Fearless Overlord| |o o| | \ _ / The Ant Farm, Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL), and this forum. ( ) |
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Dr Ant |
Re: hmmmm | #10 | ||
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Posts: 5364 09/17/2007 2:14 PM
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Myrmecos:
Actually, I was confusing the term for a person who is crazy about carpenter ants (like say, RRS, John Klotz or Dr. Mackay) with the ants' correct genus name. Either that, or I'm just a lousy typist. 
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Harpegnathos |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #11 | ||
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Major Worker Ant Posts: 473 09/22/2007 12:38 PM
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Don't need to drag this one out...get your guesses in now! I am back home and will post a photo in a few days. No points for guesses that are posted after you see the photo.
A few days after I post the pics I'll post the the answer. H |
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MrILoveTheAnts |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #12 | ||
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TAFMF Addict Posts: 3223 09/22/2007 1:12 PM |
Whatever it is I want to say it's an army ant of some kind, and just to be interesting I'll say it was an abandoned queen. Are there any genera that meet the 37mm long factor?
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Harpegnathos |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #13 | ||
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Major Worker Ant Posts: 473 09/26/2007 9:00 PM
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Here it is....
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Mrmacophyl |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #14 | ||
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Posts: 3405 09/26/2007 9:08 PM
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Ooooh Ooohh I know I know.
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...."
Isaac Asimov: |
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MrILoveTheAnts |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #15 | ||
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TAFMF Addict Posts: 3223 09/26/2007 9:15 PM |
Well it's not a queen. Still not sure though.
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antdude |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #16 | ||
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Posts: 17202 09/26/2007 9:52 PM
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Sausage fly?
 "Where the sugar is, there will the ant be also." --Philippines /\___/\ / /\ /\ \ Ant (aka AntDude), Your Host & Fearless Overlord| |o o| | \ _ / The Ant Farm, Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL), and this forum. ( ) |
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DAnter |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #17 | ||
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Young Worker Ant Posts: 39 09/27/2007 8:36 PM
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As lil Johnny would be apt to say to the teach.....
OOUGH,OOUGH,I know teacher, I know!!!! Let me answer as he tries to put his arm and hand through the ceiling... After many wrong answers from his classmates and not wanting to let Johnny answer cause she knows what a dirty lil boy he is and he is likely to say something nasty, the teacher relents and calls on Johnny to answer but cautions him as to his answer ...Johnny says..... Are you ready for this.... It is a car looking for a garage, teacher....But I like the way you are thinking!!! |
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Teleutotje |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #18 | ||
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Henchant Posts: 1915 09/28/2007 6:08 AM
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Nice photograph! Indeed, one of those males of army ants! For me, I would say, not knowing the country, Dorylus, maybe of the subgenus Anomma! But the species?????
Teleutotje
" Tell-oo-toat-yeh " " I am who I am , I think ... " |
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Harpegnathos |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #19 | ||
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Major Worker Ant Posts: 473 09/28/2007 3:38 PM
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This ant is a male of the genus Dorylus, collected in Mali.
As far as I am able to ascertain, no other ant genus approaches the size of this specimen (37mm!). Camponotus gigas major workers and queens measure less than 30mm, based on images at AntWeb. Myrmecos1 stuck his neck out and correctly deduced that this ant had flown to the light. Since Dorylus queens are ergatoid (meaning worker-like, at least in that they lack wings), this ant had to be a male. Mrmacophyl, I still don't understand the scoring system, but I'd say give Myrmecos1 ten points. Teleutotje was first to mention Dorylus and he is also probably correct about subgenus Anomma (based on mandible shape, per Gotwald, 1995), so give him five points. I will send the specimen to Dr. Brian Taylor (Ants of Africa) and maybe he will tell us the species. Antdude, no points after pictures were posted, but you are correct: the common name for the male Dorylus is "sausage fly." H |
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Mrmacophyl |
Re: Name that Ant #84 (15 Sept 2007) | #20 | ||
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Posts: 3405 09/28/2007 7:53 PM
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You got it will move and score.
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...."
Isaac Asimov: |
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