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Photo#275794
Queen ants? - Formica

Queen ants? - Formica
Fort Ord Dunes SP, Monterey County, California, USA
May 13, 2009
Size: 8mm
In sandy habitat leading to the beach, I thought these were wasps looking for prey or a nest site by the way they were looking around on the sand. Two were together, then another came, and they were all rolling around. I thought it was a pair mating, with another male trying to interrupt them. On the way back from the beach, I found another one, at first glance with prey. Turned out it was dead, and a smaller ant was trying to deal with it. After I took the dead one home, I saw it had a petiole hump. The rear end looks the same on the dead one as the live one I got into a bug box, so I'm including those photos even though it isn't the same specimen.

Images of this individual: tag all
Queen ants? - Formica Queen ants? - Formica Queen ants? - Formica Queen ants? - Formica

Moving to genus page for now...
-

One (plus two males:-)
I see a winged (alate) queen, alate male, and de-alate male.

 
Both males are winged,
though wings on the unattached one are spread open and are transparent. This is a mating pair and extra male of Formica -- not sure which species, but apparently francoeuri.

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