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Photo#104201
Linepithema humile - female

Linepithema humile - Female
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, USA
September 4, 2006
Size: 3 mm
One of the biggest problem in California, Argentine ants, I saw in many opportunities kill another ants colony(another species)attacking in very large quantities. Multiqueen Comunity, the are able to accept another anrgentine from another colony. I saw Argentine ants swarming in just hours, almost covering all windows in a building in California. Linepithema humile is the scientific name. This picture is a good symbiosis example beetwen 2 diferent species, the scale get proteccion from Argentine ants and argentine ants get food from scales. After 1992 Iridomyrmex humilis has been replaced by Linepithema humile, Bolton merely recorded in his catalogue the earlier discovery of Steve Shattuck, who was the person who finally associated the new world species of Iridomyrmex with the obscure Andean genus known only from males called "Linepithema", and then transferred all American Iridomyrmex to Linepithema (South American group).

More on Argentine ants vs. the rest

Location?
Was this picture taken in California, or in Florida?

 
HI Chuck
The Picture was taken in Los Angeles, Califonia. they were harvesting in a ivy plant.

 
Moved and edited
I'm pretty sure your ID is correct, though I'm not by any means an expert- so I moved it to the guide page for the species. It matches everything I know to look for, with at least one diagnostic feature- the erect disc on the petiole (the thin "waist") not visible at this magnification. By the way: the current consensus seems to be that the correct genus is Linepithema, rather than Iridomyrmex.

I've changed the location information to reflect where you actually took the picture. If you could take it one step further and correct the date, that would help (unless you really did take the picture the day you posted it).

I had a feeling that you weren't aware that the system had filled in date and location information based on the defaults in your user profile, which is why I asked.

If you click on the Data tab for any BugGuide entry, you'll see which states and which months images of this species have contributed for. Oddly enough, there don't seem to be any images from Louisiana- where the species first gained a foothold in the US- or any of the other southeastern states where they're know to be. So far, all we have is images from California.

For more information, click on the Info tab.

 
Thanks
Thanks Chuck for your help, I already update my information and you are right about the name it has been changed for Linepithema and I found some information about it. I am very happy I found this site in the internet, it is my second picture in the net. About the Ants I have more pictures with more magnification with the single node around pedicel and will try to upload tonight, Regards

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