Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Snelling,
I was out in the field this evening and saw some harvesters going crazy with activity. When I got closer it looked like either: They were moving lock stock and barrel to a new hole about 20 feet away; or what I think was happening was that one colony was raiding another and taking away developing young. Is that possible? Strangeness!

I have seen this behavior a few times with Messor andrei and once with Pogonomyrmex rugosus. There are several theories as to what is going on, my own feeling is that they are just moving on.for what ever reason. I have found in many cases that a disturbance will often stimulate a move, usually predation or invasion by another ant species or perhaps even a severe buildup of nest inquilines (mites, silverfish beetles etc. The P. rugosus move I observeed was right after flights of P. colei, a Pogonomyrmex which is parasitic on rugosus, the colony members I observed were moving about 20 feet to another hole which I suspect was actually just another entrance to the original colony.
I have been watching a Messor andrei colony in my back yard over the last 6 months, they started out off my property and are now 30 or so feet closer, the speed with which the entrances were established again leads me to believe that the underground portion of the colony had already extended to this point prior to the move.

hope this makes sense
Gordon

Thanks for the reply Gordon. Interesting to say the least. I often observe these guys and their activities but this was new to me. Can I ask what area you live in? I am near Lancaster, CA.
The ants are large blackish pogo's.
Are the queens still flying? We have the rain a couple weeks back. I probably missed the opportunity.

I am wondering how difficult it might be to bring a colony onto my property? I have about 1/3 acre. Part of which is pretty much undeveloped.
Cheers!

I am out near victorville. If it is a Pogonomyrmex you are dealing with it is P. rugosus, if it is Messor it should be M. pergandei. I can think of no way to coax them onto your property, but I would be very surprised if they are not there somewhere already unless the habitat has been highly disturbed. I saw little increase in activity after the rain, in part due to the several nights of cool temps. I had some activity at my light but nothing to rave about.

Is a flourescent black light something that would be attractive to them. I have done a little reading on the ant forum and am interested in attracting them if possible. I just put out a big black light to see what happens. Never tried it before.

The property I am on has been scraped pretty good. Not much topsoil if any left over and it is difficult even to get anything to grow on it. These ants are located in colonies about every 25 feet or so just off my place where the desert has not been disturbed. I'll post some pictues, hopefully tomorrw. There are 5 species around here that I have been able to locate so far. I think one variety may be the dreaded argentine.

Didn't expect such a quick response!
Thanks again

The black light will at least attract certain species, not all species will respond. If the weather is good, you should see a fair amount of insect activity ants included. I look forward to seeing the pics, hopefully can give some Ids at that time. I think your possible argentine is probably Dorymyrmex insanus, it does not sounds as if your place would be to there liking unless you do alot of watering.

The black light will at least attract certain species, not all species will respond. If the weather is good, you should see a fair amount of insect activity ants included. I look forward to seeing the pics, hopefully can give some Ids at that time. I think your possible argentine is probably Dorymyrmex insanus, it does not sounds as if your place would be to there liking unless you do alot of watering.

Well Gordon,
The black light worked some but I didn't have time to go check it all night. There were some black flying ants there though. (A couple). Lots of beatles and other small items.

Here are some photos of the ants near my house. These large Pogos are everywhere, as are the smaller black ones. The red ones are more rare but still can be found.

Let me know what you think:

This first one is pogos coming out just at sundown.
http://www.brockhaven.com/HL/ants/pogos1.jpg

You can see them foraging in the branches here. Stripping it.
http://www.brockhaven.com/HL/ants/pogos2.jpg

These are the unknown black ants:
http://www.brockhaven.com/HL/ants/unk1.jpg
http://www.brockhaven.com/HL/ants/unk2.jpg

These I think I have pictured here before but:
http://www.brockhaven.com/HL/ants/red1.jpg
http://www.brockhaven.com/HL/ants/red2.jpg

Never noticed that preview button before. let me try again.

This first one is pogos coming out just at sundown.

You can see them foraging in the branches here. Stripping it.

These are the unknown black ants:

These I think I have pictured here before but:

I am notorious for missing the preview button myself. Your mystery Pogo is P. rugosus, a fairly common desert species. Your mystery black ant is Messor pergandei, this is THE harvestor ant associated with the american deserts. and the other Pogo is P. californicus. Your observ ations witht ehlight is pretty much typical. The ants pictured rarely will come to light but do show up occasionally, you are more likely to get Crematogaster, Pheidole, Camponotus and others showing pu. Another thing you will get in large numbers are little queens of something in the Solenopsis molesta group of ants.

Do you keep horned lizards Gordon?
If so, what do you have?

No I currently dont have any. I just dont have the time to properly care for the, So I stick strictly to my entomology these days.

PREY SELECTION IN HORNED LIZARDS FOLLOWING THE INVASION OFARGENTINE ANTS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Paper Link

Very interesting paper, thanks for the link

So you and Lester are neighbors?!

I heard of an ant farm person that digs them up with a back hoe puts the dirt contents in gunny sacks and then transports them to a home site and the colony has taken. I don't know how successful that would be. Obviously you'd have to get a queen in the dig. But you might try it. Better know there food requirements as well.

I guess a backhoe shows more than casual interest. I don't think I'm there yet. Thanks Repto man.
Cheers!