hymenopterahumes's Journal

As an Idahoan who is really interested in harvester ants, I have studied them in many areas of this state. Every single time I have taken specimens from any place in Idaho it has been P. salinus.

I have collected harvester ants from areas like Boise, to areas like the City of Rocks and no matter where I go it is always P. salinus. It wasn't until I went to Salt Lake City, Utah where I found a nest of P. occidentalis:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/232821765

After posting this observation I found another verifiable observation of P. occidentalis in that same location and area. I believe that P. occidentalis can still be found in Eastern Idaho, but I am very sure that P. occidentalis is not found in Western Idaho. So I'm wondering, is it a good idea to start identifying all the Pogonomyrmex observations in Western Idaho as P. salinus? Or should I keep identifying them as Occidentalis group?

@gcsnelling @froggy143 @mettcollsuss What do you guys think?

Recently I've been looking back at some of my old identifications, and it was almost embarrassing to see the inaccuracy of some of them.

This one for example:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/173785994

But it was a good opportunity to compare the old ones with some of my new ones and see how much I've improved. I started INaturalist on July 26 2023 and I never would have imagined I would come this far! So I would like to thank @makarii_loskutov , @kyleprice1 , @xianzx , @neylon , @pedro3111 , and @froggy143 for helping me learn all the things I know now!