Arizona Road Trip Jan-Feb 2017 Part 6

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Arizona Road Trip Jan-Feb 2017 Part 6

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Ant Species (2)

A Few Ant Species From Previous Trips To Arizona

  Arizona: Feb 2013: #1 #2 Oct 2013: #1 #2
  Arizona (Incl. Portal): May 2014: #1 #2 #3
  Arizona (Incl. Cave Creek): Oct 2014: #1 #2
  Images From New Mexico Road Trip July 2016
  Arizona Ants: Oct 2012 Jan 2016 Jan 2017

Long-Legged Ant (Aphaenogaster cockerelli)

Long-Legged Ant (Aphaenogaster cockerelli): These large ants are one of my favorite species. They have many nests in the Superstitions. They do not sting or bite, although a similar-appearing Arizona species (A. albisetosa) bites viciously. In fact, Aphaenogaster cockerelli seem quite friendly and curious, especially when I give them pieces of my Nature Valley Granola Bar. The are very fond of crunchy "Oats 'n Honey" bars.

Desert Leaf-Cutter Ant Carrying Pinnate Leaves Of Palo Verde

Palo verde (Cercidium microphyllum = Parkinsonia microphylla): State tree of Arizona.

Desert leaf-cutter ant (Acromyrmex versicolor)

Honeypot Ant (Myrmecocystus mexicanus)

Holbrook, Arizona: Great place to photograph freight trains and the home of one of my favorite honeypot ants (cf. Myrmecocystus mexicana). It is also near the Painted Desert & Petrified Forest National Park: Petrified Forest 1 and Petrified Forest 2.

This curious roadrunner stood 10 feet away watching me photograph a colony of honeypot ants (Myrmecocystus) in the Lower Salt River. These sugar-loving ants are very fond of Werther's Butterscotch! Their bright red head probably rules out M. mimicus. Tentatively, they resembles M. mendax.

Native Fire Ants Solenopsis On Milkweed Flowers

Native fire ant major & minor workers (Solenopsis xyloni--formerly S.maniosa) on the flowers of a milkweed called antelope horns (Asclepias asperula). According to James Trager, the binomial S. maniosa may be revived with new DNA research.

Nocturnal Carpenter Ant (Camponotus fragilis)

I also found this species on Owens Peak and Daley Ranch in San Diego County.

Another Large Carpenter Ant (Camponotus) At Cave Creek Ranch

This may be the western carpenter ant (Camponotus modoc), the largest ant seen at Cave Creek Ranch. Nine species of carpenter ants (Camponotus) are known from Cave Creek according to Antweb.org.

More Ant Species From Current Arizona Road Trip

Desert Harvester Ant (Messor= Veromessor pergandei)

Desert harvester ant nest (Veromessor pergandei) in the Superstitions on cold rainy day.

Desert harvester ant (Veromessor pergandei): A polymorphic ant with workers as large as red Pogonomyrmex. This species has a large range in the southwest desert region. Unlike the painful sting of Pogonomyrmex, this species does not sting.

Harvester Ant (Pogonomyrmex) in the Superstitions

Dark harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex rugosus) or possibly hybrids with P. barbatus.

Pogonomyrmex rugosus (or possibly hybrid with P. barbatus). The bristlelike hairs on underside of head are part of the psammophore. The following image of Pheidole barbata shows this structure in more detail.

Have you ever tried to pick up dry, loose sand with fine-tipped forceps? This desert ant is adapted to soft, loose sand. Sand spilling out of mandibles is caught in the long hairs on underside of its head.

Pogonomyrmex Use Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Algorithm

Harvester ants use the same algorithm as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) in computers. They follow a simple set of rules that tell each ant, "If this happens, do this." The TCP algorithm sends out a large number of data packets at the start of a transmission over the Internet to determine available bandwidth and then adjusts the speed accordingly. Harvester ants do the same thing by sending out a large number of foragers. If few return with food ("low bandwidth") then the number of foragers sent out ("rate of transmission") is greatly reduced. It all boils down to a question of bandwidth--except in the ant's case, they've been doing it for millions of years!

Prabhaker, B., Dektar, K.N., and D.M. Gordon. 2012. "The Regulation of Ant Colony Foraging Activity Without Spatial Information." PLOS Computational Biology 8 (8): e1002670. doi: 10. 1371/journal.pcbi. 1002670. See Reference On-Line

Harvester Ant Workers: Hybrids Between Pogonomyrmex rugosus & P. barbatus

All Possible Crosses *	P. barbatus Queen	P. barbatus Male	P. rugosus Queen	P. rugosus Male
P. barbatus Queen	-----	Purebred Queen	-----	Hybrid Worker
P. barbatus Male	Purebred Queen	-----	Hybrid Worker	-----
P. rugosus Queen	-----	Hybrid Worker	-----	Purebred Queen
P. rugosus Male	Hybrid Worker	-----	Purebred Queen	-----

* Note: Purebred Male Comes From Unfertilized Egg Of Purebred Queen.

Sex determination in the more than 12,000 species of ants is typical of the enormous insect order Hymenoptera, including bees and wasps. The method is called "haplodiploidy." Males develop from unfertilized eggs and are haploid with one set of maternal chromosomes. They are not identical clones of their queen mother because of crossing over and random assortment of chromosomes during meiosis (oogenesis). Deleterious (unfavorable) recessive genes are quickly weeded out in haploid males because they are expressed and cannot be masked by dominant genes. Females develop from fertilized eggs and are diploid with two sets of chromosomes. Some references say that larvae destined to become sexually mature queens are "well-nurtured," presumably similar to royal jelly in honey bees; however, other reputable authorities state that selection of a queen in some ant species is a lot more complicated and may involve special eggs destined to become queens (see next paragraph). Queen ants have one of the longest life-spans of any known insects--up to 28 years in captivity!

In zones of hybridization, Pogonomyrmex harvester ant workers of the southwestern U.S. are hybrids between P. rugosus and P. barbatus. They possess the best genetic traits of two species. The queen of each species mates with the males of opposite species. Sexually mature ants (queens and winged males) are purebreds: They are offspring of queen and males of the same species. Young queens need to mate with their own species to produce more purebred queens. They need to mate with the other species to produce "superorganism" workers. This strategy appears to be evolutionarily advantageous to both species.

1. Cahan, S.H., and L. Keller. 2003. "Complex Hybrid Origin of Genetic Caste Determination in Harvester
Ants." Nature 424 (6946): 306-309.

2. Schwander, T., Cahan, S.H., and L. Keller. 2007. "Characterization and Distribution of Pogonomymex
Harvester Ant Lineages with Genetic Caste Determination." Molecular Ecology 16 (2): 367-387.

3. Schwander, T., and L. Keller. 2007. "Genetic Compatibility Affects Queens and Worker Caste
Determination." Science 322 (5901): 552.