Fan request 1
- Thread starter Redmoth27
- Start date
Could you please explain those choices a bit more...
Flying ant is an alate I guess?
By jumping ants do you think of ants like jumping jacks from the Myrmecia bull ant genus or Harpegnathos ants?
Also remember than Argentine Ants are ridiculously tiny (about as long as the head of a Formica fusca worker) and you'd have a hard time even seeing them on your screen.
Flying ant is an alate I guess?
By jumping ants do you think of ants like jumping jacks from the Myrmecia bull ant genus or Harpegnathos ants?
Also remember than Argentine Ants are ridiculously tiny (about as long as the head of a Formica fusca worker) and you'd have a hard time even seeing them on your screen.
First, Serafine flying ants are fictional like the Formica Erepta.
Second, Jumping ants are Jumping Jack ants.
Third Argentine ants killed 98% of fire ants in California driving the remaining to the desert. They are brutal and highly expendable, like the Assasins Creed games. They are so expendable that losing a queen is not a big deal.
Let me show you their strength!
go to 1:04
https://youtu.be/boyzWeHdtiI
Second, Jumping ants are Jumping Jack ants.
Third Argentine ants killed 98% of fire ants in California driving the remaining to the desert. They are brutal and highly expendable, like the Assasins Creed games. They are so expendable that losing a queen is not a big deal.
Let me show you their strength!
go to 1:04
https://youtu.be/boyzWeHdtiI
Still they're really strong in numbers. And more disposable than the nazis in Wolfenstein, or the Advent in Xcom 2
There are flying ants already - they're called wasps (actually it's the other way around, ants are wingless wasps).
Argentines may be an issue but they need it really moist and can only survive with a constant water supply (that's why they mostly nest near humans settlements and rivers). Pheidole megacephala (big headed ants), another invasive supercolony ant species which is even worse than Argentines, usually just shreds through them. I'm also pretty curious how things will work out when Argentines and Nylanderia fulva (Raspberry crazy ants, resistant to fire ant stings and currently butchering their way through Florida) will meet. Not to forget yellow crazy ants which are currently devastating dozens of pacific islands. And i'm pretty sure it's just a matter of time until we have to deal with some sort of invasive Crematogaster acrobat ants as well (apparently there actually is a Crematogaster species currently invading Crimea).
There's a good amount of invasive species by now (also worth mentioning the super tiny Tapinoma melanocephalum Ghost ants and the ominous Lasius neglectus that is the only temperate ant capable of founding supercolonies) and Argentines really aren't the worst in general - yellow crazy ants for example are way more devastating to their environemnt. It all depends on how adaptive a species is and what environment a specific location offers them, every place is different and allows a different invasive species to thrive most.
Argentines may be an issue but they need it really moist and can only survive with a constant water supply (that's why they mostly nest near humans settlements and rivers). Pheidole megacephala (big headed ants), another invasive supercolony ant species which is even worse than Argentines, usually just shreds through them. I'm also pretty curious how things will work out when Argentines and Nylanderia fulva (Raspberry crazy ants, resistant to fire ant stings and currently butchering their way through Florida) will meet. Not to forget yellow crazy ants which are currently devastating dozens of pacific islands. And i'm pretty sure it's just a matter of time until we have to deal with some sort of invasive Crematogaster acrobat ants as well (apparently there actually is a Crematogaster species currently invading Crimea).
There's a good amount of invasive species by now (also worth mentioning the super tiny Tapinoma melanocephalum Ghost ants and the ominous Lasius neglectus that is the only temperate ant capable of founding supercolonies) and Argentines really aren't the worst in general - yellow crazy ants for example are way more devastating to their environemnt. It all depends on how adaptive a species is and what environment a specific location offers them, every place is different and allows a different invasive species to thrive most.
Your right there. But the island is mostly moist and they... wait I remember. Argentines suck in super moist environments. They are only really good in suburbs and small forests. But they are Incredibly bitter towards one and another. So if you invade their nest you would lose a lot of troops because they come in all directions, and when you clear a nest out a few queens survive and you have to go through all the hassle all over again.
Actually there are interesting studies about intraspecific aggression. What they show is that basically supercolony ants are very aggressive when they first occupy a new territory. However this aggression is bad once they completely dominate a territory because it could lead to workers or colonies engaging in fights with each other due to the lack of actual threats. So what happens is that while the supercolony retains an aggressive behaviour at it's outwards-pushing borders, the ants in the already occupied territory will become quite timid over time. This again opens room for other species to establish themselves deep within the territory of these supercolonies, slowly pushing outwards until the supercolony's territory looks more or less like a ring or even gets broken up into several smaller territories.Redmoth27 said:
There's also indicators that the californian Argentine supercolony is actually not a single supercolony but several different supercolonies descended from a handful of different imported queens (not just one) and that these supercolonies would fight each other if they ever met (which they haven't done so far because they are seperated by geographical features).
Yes, and they are awful pets because they have a tendency to slaughter half of their queens every year (doesn't matter too much as they produce new ones) and generally do terrible in captivity (which is kinda ironic as they do so well in sub-urban areas).
There are other polygynous supercolony ants like Pheidole megacephala (bigheaded ant), Anoplolepis gracilis (yellow crazy ant, probably the worst of all) - actually even Solenopsis invicta (red imported fire ant) has recently evolved polygynous supercolony strains.
There are other polygynous supercolony ants like Pheidole megacephala (bigheaded ant), Anoplolepis gracilis (yellow crazy ant, probably the worst of all) - actually even Solenopsis invicta (red imported fire ant) has recently evolved polygynous supercolony strains.
I'm sad. I live in the SF bay area, and the only nuptial flights I have ever seen are of TERMITES.
And the only ants I've ever seen in the area are Argentine ants.
So I want to catch an alate, but THERE ACTUALLY ARE NONE.
=(
And the only ants I've ever seen in the area are Argentine ants.
So I want to catch an alate, but THERE ACTUALLY ARE NONE.
=(
Argentine ants do not have nuptial flights. They spread by budding off satellite colonies.
Some ant species (like Pheidole megacephala and the polygynous Solenopsis invicta supercolony strains) can even do both, budding and nuptial flights.
Some ant species (like Pheidole megacephala and the polygynous Solenopsis invicta supercolony strains) can even do both, budding and nuptial flights.
I live around SF. So no ant nuptial flights. EVER.
There go my dreams of owning an ant colony.
There go my dreams of owning an ant colony.
You can check antkeeping forums like Formiculture, some people there sell ants.Raptorofwar said:
Just don't buy anything from Facebook (especially not from Joseph Kim, he's an asshole and a scammer that got banned from multiple chat servers and forums but Facebook doesn't give a shit about people illegally selling exotic animals that have more than 4 legs).