I am pleased to show you three of the ants found in my area that I would like to have identified. I will apologize beforehand for the quality of the photos, I can supply more of equally poor quality if required.
Ant #1
I found this colony of ants living in a hollow rhubarb stem last summer in my garden. They are just different enough from the other ants that I keep, that I would like to get a positive ID if possible.
They are 2 to 2.5 mm long, black, and very active. They also seem to be very prolific, judging by the brood they are currently raising. They have naked pupae.
Ant #2
I found these ants as a founding colony, living in an acorn in a woodlot not far from my home. They are 2.5 to 3 mm long, brown and chunky looking compared to ant #1. They make cocoons. Initially they were very secretive, only appearing long enough to grab food, drag it back into the acorn and disappear for three or four days. When they graduated to a larger formicarium they continued this type of behaviour, only taking food that I covered with their feeding dish. Now that the colony is bigger, they are capable of dragging most things to a hole and they are also foraging more and are often out patrolling their area.
Ant #3
I've found a number of colonies of these ants in the same woodlot as Ant #2. I find them living in acorns and walnuts and they are polygynous, one had five queens. They are 4 to 4.5 mm long and have naked pupae. They are, I think, the most laid back, relaxed, easy-going, well-behaved ants I keep. They eat pretty well anything I give them and I can observe their brood chambers with no red filter and there's no panic. When startled, if they can't make a quick escape to a hiding place, they'll freeze until they feel it's safe to continue. They also play dead. They meet me at the feeding tray and take food right off the tweezers. How could you not love ants like that? I'd like to be able to put a name to these great ants, although slower growing, they'd make excellent ants for a beginner.
Again, I thank those of you who take the time to identify these ants for me.
RPT
