wasps, or sawflies? - Neivamyrmex

Moved

… Ken Wolgemuth, 10 March, 2010 - 11:43am

Male Neivamyrmex

Without a doubt Male Neivamyrmex army ants. Species is hard to tell from these photos though, but they may be N. harrisi based on what I cna see of the mandible shape.. Not much more I can add that hasn't been said though by everyone else. Nice find. Neivamyrmex species are primarily raiders on other ants but do take other insect prey if the opportunity presents itself. Finding queens is very rare, and captive culture of a colony is near impossible. If you still have them and want them Identified to species feel free to send me one to look at.

… Gordon C. Snelling, 10 March, 2010 - 6:15am

I am aware that sawflies are

I am aware that sawflies are wasps, but my staff gets a little nervous with words like "wasp", "bee" and other bugs, so I try to help them learn that there are harmless ones out there. Termites, though not the alates if I am correct, can cause damage to buildings. I'm assuming these would be harmless, yes?

thanks everyone for all their help!

… Katherine M, 9 March, 2010 - 1:40pm

Pretty much harmless.

They can bite, and it can hurt, but a few males won't kill anyone.

An entire colony of this type of ant can swarm over prey and bring it down though. Quite interesting.

On another note...alate termites do cause damage to buldings. They eat wood too, and they're the ones that start the entire colony.

… Natalie Hernandez, 9 March, 2010 - 3:47pm

The worker's stings are pretty mild, too (the army ants)

I've had both hands in a Neivamyrmex nest trying to locate the queen (no luck). The stings weren't too bad -- I'd say fire ants are worse on the pain scale.

Great find! Try flipping a few dirt covered logs and rocks if you're interested in finding a colony. You can sometimes see them raiding nests of other ant species. The males commonly come to lights at night.

… George Waldren, 9 March, 2010 - 7:44pm

I'm probably way off base...

but they remind me of "Sausage Flies" (male legionary ants):

I'll be interested to see what the experts have to say.

… Ken Wolgemuth, 9 March, 2010 - 12:37pm

agree

but if during a nuptial flight, could be females, also.

… Blaine Mathison, 9 March, 2010 - 1:03pm

Army ant queens are not born

Army ant queens are not born with wings. Colonies divide rather than nuptial flight. They accept males into the colony which mate with 1 of only maybe a dozen new queens produced. The best of those queens is then picked to divide the colony, all other candidates are either killed or abandoned.

These would be males, though what species would be hard to say. The genus is likely Neivamyrmex though.

… MrILoveTheAnts, 9 March, 2010 - 1:07pm

That was my understanding.

I occasionally caught sausage flies when I lived in West Africa (Dorylus species, I presume--really big fellas, 35-40mm or so), and I was told that they were all males.

… Ken Wolgemuth, 9 March, 2010 - 1:25pm

Not at all.

I at least agree they are winged (alate) ants:-) By the way, sawflies *are* wasps.

… Eric R. Eaton, 9 March, 2010 - 12:41pm