ArmyofInsects

I went to Arizona during my spring break, I wasn’t posting anything during lent tho so over the next few days I’ll share some of my finds there.
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This is a solenopsis ablychila major from a colony I collected in Mesa, AZ. Specifically I found the colony (complete with queen) in canyon lake state park. S. Amblychila is socially parasitic, with queens parisitizing colonies of solenopsis xyloni during founding. has a great picture of S. amblychila somewhere, I’m not sure if it’s on his Instagram but it is on iNaturalist.
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if you haven’t posted your S. amblychila image I highly encourage you to do so!

Today I found a ot of diplura, which are not technically insects. They are part of the entognatha class/superclass it is unclear whether they’re a class on their own or if they’re an order in entocognatha. According to genetics I believe they’d be distinct. Anyways, they are pretty interesting, and you might just happen to notice a few of you flip some rocks over! There’s around 800 species of them!
@ Tallman Gulch Trail

Weevil I found today, insects haven’t really come out yet and there’s a lot of snow expected tomorrow.