I can't even begin to explain why these ants flew...

After almost 5 weeks of not being able to get out into the field at all, I finally made it back to one of my favorite mountains in Arizona. I'm on a mission to collect Lasius pupae for a friend's social parasite queens, but given the high elevation, they might already be done producing brood. What I definitely didn't expect was to find a species having a massive nuptial flight! Usually in Arizona most ants fly in the spring (Feb-April) or summer (June-Aug), so seeing flights outside of these months is pretty rare. Not to mention the species that flew is usually supposed to fly in the spring? This was definitely crazy, and a wonderful return to some quality southern Arizona anting.
Last time I was in this region of Arizona: • Leafcutters AND Honeyp...
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