Talk:Carebara longii

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Carebara longii: Cryptic or subterranean?
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Introduction

The majority of carebara species found around the world primarily fit into two categories, subterranean, or cryptic. In this situation, subterranean is defined as found underground in soil, and cryptic as found near, or in leaf litter/rotting logs. Most of the biology of the 27 american species is unknown, so we cannot pinpoint this species by its relatives. Carebara longii specifically is found in the united states, in two states, Oklahoma, and Texas. It has been found in various habitats. In Texas, Caves, Botanical Gardens, Forested areas. In Oklahoma it was found in mountains.

Beginnings of behavoir

Like stated above, most information on this genus is lacking in general. Carebara was originally placed in a genus stated as having majors yet still no majors have ever been observed. I asked Dr. Brian Fisher, and Dr. Fernando Fernández about their speculations of this species having majors. Both of them told me that Carebara longii probably possesses majors, but majors are incredibly rare. This evidence doesn’t really help answer the question of subterranean, but usually ants found in leaf litter are small, and generally lack caste diversity, but since there are no soldiers observed this doesn’t apply much at all. Nuptials of this species likely fly around October and September. There are two options for flight biology likely with either one flight a year, either in October (12-18th), or September (2nd-24th). Or this species could actually have two flights a year, one during September, AND during October

Observational Oddities

Oddly enough specimens of this species primarily appear between late august and mid october this trend common even amongst workers. This could indicate that the species is subterranean only comes to areas where it can be collected during the time of nuptial flight. But the one outlier of this trend (found by Dr. Jack Longino in 2014) is more concrete evidence suggests that is likely a cryptic species, because the workers were collected by leaf litter sifting. In fact most evidence suggests that this species is a cryptic one, inhabiting only leaf litter like habitats. But there are a few observations that find this species under rocks in soil.

My Observations

I collected a gyne of this species on october 14th at 1:54 PM, In Austin, TX, USA. Lat: 30.267 Long: -97.778, It was found near leaf litter under a rock. Likely just a coincidence, it was found about 8 cm away from a larvae of a Lucanus stag beetle. The queen often relied on thanatosis especially when first exposed to light, or dropped. It was found in soil containing silt, leaf litter, and rotten wood, Under a tall oak tree. The weather was clear during the collection.

- Josiah Kilburn

Conclusion

Thoughts and opinions on my theories would be appreciated, but here's what I have derived from my rudimentary research. I believe that Carebara longii likely has one flight a year, that alternates between September and October depending on weather conditions. My answer to the question I first asked is as follows: Carebara longii has a high probability of being a species that nests throughout leaf litter layers or just beneath them. However there is not nearly enough specimens and observations to make this claim concrete. I believe they likely have majors that have not been discovered yet. But, no genetic analysis has been performed on this species yet, so It's relation to other species like Carebara urichi with majors is yet to be compared. For this reason I am on the lookout for more individuals of this species. Currently I am raising the gyne I collected for live observation to determine if this species has majors or not. If not I will be on the lookout for a live colony next time I am near the areas where they are found.