ID Request in Chichester, NH, USA
Location: Chichester NH, about 10 minutes away from Concord.Medium: Really old rotting stump. This thing was so deteriorated that it blew up like a pile a sand when I tripped over it.Size: Approx....
View ArticleRe: ID Request in Chichester, NH, USA
With that coloration, the single petiolar segment, and the aggression, it sounds to me like a Formica of some kind, most likely a rufa-group species like Formica obscuriventris, or possibly one of the...
View ArticleRe: ID Request in Chichester, NH, USA
Thanks, Myrmecos1. I figured it was some form of Formica, and Formica obscuriventris is a very close match. The thorax on the other two weren't as rounded as the thorax on my specimen. Formica...
View ArticleRe: ID Request in Chichester, NH, USA
Hello Kane:Also check out Formica integra, the most common of the eastern rufa-group species.
View ArticleRe: ID Request in Chichester, NH, USA
Thanks, Dr. Ant. I think Formica integra might actually be it instead of Formica obscuriventris. Anyone know anything about this species mating habits?
View ArticleRe: ID Request in Chichester, NH, USA
Formica rufa-group ants are all temporary social parasites of other Formica species. Queens do not found nests by themselves. Rather, they sneak into nests of other Formica species (something like...
View ArticleRe: ID Request in Chichester, NH, USA
Thanks for the info. Do you happen to know what time of year they fly?
View ArticleRe: ID Request in Chichester, NH, USA
The species around here (California) fly in late spring to early summer. I'm not sure about the eastern species. Dr. Ant probably knows, though.
View ArticleRe: ID Request in Chichester, NH, USA
Sometimes Formica rufa group does not proceed with normal nuptial flights, but procreates in the way of colony fission.RegardsLOKI
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