Found roaming in creosote-stabilized sand dune habitat at ~1,160' elevation on the western edge of the Coachella Valley...a desert habitat along the San Andreas fault with the coastal influenced Los Angeles basin to the west, and high mountains directly north and south (Mt. San Gorgonio at ~11,500' and San Jacinto Peak at ~10,840', respectively).

I think these are Pogonomyrmex californicus. From what I've gathered, researching on the internet, this is a fairly variable species. These ants all had black gasters with a pair of red oval spots located dorso-laterally on the anterior third of the gaster (unlike most BG posts under P. californicus, but similiar to this one). Most also seemed to hold the gaster at almost a right angle to the thorax/metasoma, and their heads were distinctively "quadrate" (i.e. square when viewed from above).