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fireside3
at Wed Oct 11 15:38:28 2006 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by fireside3 ]
maricopa? Up here in Wichita Falls, Tx.? I realize range maps cannot be taken as a strict interpretation, but are they known in this area?
I just received the book by Cole yesterday. Still trying to work it out. It is difficult to work with, especially when you're not very familiar with entomology terms. But after sampling numerous workers from the colonies in which these queens were gathered:
1. the cephalic rugae are fine, close set, and produce luster, especially about the head.
2. epinotal spines pronounced and canted slightly rearward.
3. there is a pronounced notch or spine on the bottom of the petiole.
4. the body is usually concolorous, except for a few examples where the gaster is sometimes slightly bi-colored ( little darker at the posterior.) and had a very shiny "candy apple red" luster.
5. thorax, petiole, & postpetiole contours of workers and the queens gathered are more consistent with barbatus complex and inconsistent with profile of maricopa...according to this book.
Some colonies I find are pebbled mound type of various size, some in more open and less hard ground ( fields )are flat circular dirt or have pebbles. All these examples appear pretty much the same except for subtle coloration differences. One small colony I recently found which was obscure in rocky ground, with the entrance hidden at the base of a tuft of grass, contained workers that were an orange coloration and I thought they might be P. comanche.
But what do I know yet, I'm a herp guy. Determining species and subspecies on these things seems to be a chore. Telling HLs, turtles, and snakes apart is easy by comparison. I'm sure you would need examples or good close ups to tell for sure. I had to hold my jewelers lens up to the camera to get those shots.
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"A man that should call everything by it's right name, would hardly pass the streets without being knocked down as a common enemy." The Complete Works of George Savile, First Marquess of Halifax 1912,246
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