Alta Loma Denizens
A couple weeks back I stumbled across a veritable ant city in Altadena, CA. I was searching around the neighborhood for un-landscaped areas where ants might take up residence. I came across Alta Loma Park, which is located near the northern part of Altadena in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains. In the parking lot there is a area that is covered with soil and a weedy grass of some kind.
Apparently, this makes for a good home for a variety of ants. So far I have spied 5 different species all within the same area. They are tightly packed together as well in a radius of about 25 yards or so.
Although I have not officially identified them yet, the genus present appear to include Pogonomyrmex, Dorymymex, Formica and possibly Tapinoma and the fifth I have no clue about yet.
A recent visit resulted in some fun photo taking. Here a harvester works vigorously to get a popcorn seed up the large curb abutting the habitat. These type of harvester are not strong climbers in my experience, so I must applaud the effort here.
I also witnessed another harvester working to bring a complete bee carcass back the nest by herself. Along the way, she encountered some Dorymyrmex and had to continuously fight them off. In the end she came too close to one of the Dorymyrmex’s nest entrances and was overcome. They stole her prize after all her work.
I intend to visit these colonies throughout the summer. Hopefully, I can identify them all down to species and if lucky, capture a queen to raise into a captive colony.
