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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Ants (Formicoidea) » Ants (Formicidae) » Formicinae » Formicini » Wood ants, mound ants, & field ants (Formica) » fusca group (Formica fusca group) » Formica subaenescens
Photo#899060
Formica microphthalma? - Formica subaenescens
Copyright © 2014 Alice Abela

Formica microphthalma? - Formica subaenescens
Santa Barbara County, California, USA
March 7, 2013
Size: ~5mm
Found under broken shale at the interface of coastal scrub and bishop pine woodland

Images of this individual: tag all
Formica microphthalma? - Formica subaenescens Formica microphthalma? - Formica subaenescens Formica microphthalma? - Formica subaenescens Formica microphthalma? - Formica subaenescens
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Contributed by Alice Abela on 7 March, 2014 - 10:53pm
Last updated 16 July, 2018 - 4:46pm

Moved
Moved from Formica fusca.
… James C. Trager, 16 July, 2018 - 4:46pm login or register to post comments

Moved
This is F. fusca. Short setae on clypeal margin eliminate F*microphthalma, which has them nearly half the length of the clypeus. Also, that's a northern California and Sierra Nevada species.
… James C. Trager, 11 March, 2014 - 3:54pm login or register to post comments

 
Thanks!
Thanks for the info, I took some more photos of similar ants from another site, I'll have to see if their setae match up. I was going off an invert survey that reported F. microphthalma from the site where these were photographed, but they may have been misidentified or the survey may have found a different ant.
… Alice Abela, 11 March, 2014 - 6:29pm login or register to post comments

 
The fusca group is quite diff
The fusca group is quite difficult, even for ant experts, so it is not uncommon for them to be misidentified, or remain unidentified beyond the species group level.
… James C. Trager, 12 March, 2014 - 5:19pm login or register to post comments

 
ID
What separates these from F. fusca?
… Alice Abela, 17 July, 2018 - 12:08am login or register to post comments

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