Flying Carpenter Ant

January 11, 2025

Sample information
Picture
Photos by: Avital C
Location
Collection date 09/10/2024
Captive / Cultivated? Wild-caught
Group St. Paul Academy and Summit School
Observations

I found this ant in an Urban environment, in the city of St. Paul coming into resident’s houses. This occurred during September as summer was transitioning into fall. There have been many flying ants coming into my house, but I only collected one. It was around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Putative identification Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Hymenoptera Formicidae Camponotus

Methods
Extraction kit DNeasy (Qiagen) blood and tissue kit
DNA extraction location Abdomen
Single or Duplex PCR Duplex Reaction
Gel electrophoresis system MiniPCR
Buffer TBE
DNA stain GelGreen
Gel images
Protocol notes

Use SeeGreen DNA dye in 1.5% aragose gel in TBE buffer

MiniPCR Electrophoresis system

5µl DNA ladder

2µ loading dye + 8µ DNA in each lane

Results
Wolbachia presence Yes
Confidence level High
Explanation of confidence level

The positive and negative control for the gel electrophoresis both worked out well. Additionally lane 5, the lane with my arthopod, had very distinct two bands representing that there have had to been arthopod DNA and wolbachia DNA.
Wolbachia 16S sequence
Arthropod COI sequence
Summary The Camponotus was found to be postive for Wolbachia.
Report Inappropriate Post