It is often easy to find winged queen and male ants leaving the nest for their mating flights.
It is a whole different experience to actually see the mating swarm. If you have never seen a Pogonomyrmex mating swarm, the Social Insect Research Group at Arizona State University has a very cool video of a Pogonomrmex barbatus mating swarm on their website. (Note: it does take a long time to load).
Let me know what you think.
I think too big a file for my computer resources. Unfortunate, because I would have liked to watch it.
I takes a very long time to load on my computer, but it is worth it. If I ever see it elsewhere, I’ll be sure to let everyone know.
But. .aren’t those Aphaenogaster (maybe albisetosa) in your photo? o_O
Nerdmica,
Yes, those are Aphaenogaster. I don’t have any photographs of Pogonomyrmex barbatus alates yet.
Thanks for linking the video! I just wanted to let you know that it is also posted on vimeo…
I appreciate that you stopped by with the link. I know some people had trouble viewing it on the ASU link. I will let them know.