13 replies to this topic

[pliska_adam]

Hi there. I have found an ant nest and I'd love to know more about them.  This particular nest struck me as odd because it seemed like two separate species of ants was living in it. No just separated by size but also by color and body design.  I have included some details along with photos.

 

1) I found this near my driveway (black topped) under some stones (flat stones) The ant nest appears to stretch about five feel across the ground as I see them coming up out of the cracks and from under the stones along that path. I don't know how deep or far back the nest goes past the rocks (into the grass and flower bed area)

 

2) The date is 6-7-2014

3) Under flat rocks, ants coming out from cracks in rock and also from between stones.

4) They smelled lemon like… that’s odd.

5) I heard faint popping sounds when I lifted the rock.

6) There were a LOT of red ants and a LOT of black ants.

7) I didn’t see any of the red ants above ground (until I disturbed the nest) Just the black ones

8) The red ants didn’t seem to be too concerned with moving the eggs and other immature ants back into the nest when I pulled up the rock.

9) I went back and pulled up the same rock and there were a LOT more red ants. Almost like the red ones were guards?

 

The pictures I have posted display the ants next to a dime (for scale)

Attached Images

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[pliska_adam]

The black ants look a lot like these:  http://labs.russell..../pavement-ants/

[pliska_adam]

But the red ones look just like Citronella ants (and that explains the lemon too)  http://www.asktheext...ella_Ants.shtml

 

But why together in the same nest?

[Michaelofvancouver]

Maybe one of the two species is a parasitic species? 

The yellow ants seem to be Lasius umbratus or Lasius claviger. I think the black ants are probably the "victims", Lasius alienus or neoniger.

Was there any agression between the two types of ants?

Edited by Michaelofvancouver, June 7 2014 - 4:38 PM.

[LAnt]

Michael, you're right and Lasius claviger has a lemony smell. 

But, http://dnr.wi.gov/wn...un99/antcht.htm shows a Acanthomyops interjectus.  :hmm:

But http://www.antwiki.o...myops_Map_1.jpg shows L. claviger in wisconsin so its probably that.

Edited by LAnt, June 7 2014 - 5:07 PM.

[pliska_adam]

Thanks for the responses. 

 

I didn’t notice any aggression.  I have seen the black ants for a while now, they are the ones always at the surface pulling up dirt.  I’ve never seen one of the yellow before. Once I pulled up the rock there they were.  I pulled up a few more rocks in the immediate area and under many I found lots of the yellow ants, along with lots of the black.  I didn’t know there were any ants in Wisconsin that had a parasitic behavior.  The one thing I did see that I thought was odd, was the lack of interest in the eggs that the yellow ants showed. The second rock I pulled up exposed a large number of eggs and the black ants started grabbing them right away; they pulled them deeper into the ground.  The yellow ants seemed only interested in getting themselves below ground.

 

The Acanthomyops interjectus fits based on the description on the DNR site. Under rocks, never seen them above ground, large cluster of perennials (with lots of roots) directly above part of the nest.

 

They seem very cool and it would be great to try and get a colony of them going but… they don’t seem a very conducive species to keep as pets. Not only do they need those “honeydew-excreting insects on roots” but their flights are at night. Ahh well, guess something’s you just have to appreciate by knowing they are there, instead of seeing them.

 

Thanks again!

[WeatherAnt]

They actually are fighting each other. The Tetramorium caespitum are attacking the Lasius sp., which I've seen them do before. 

 

Also note, that Acanthomyops is the old name for citronella ants. They are now in the genus Lasius.  Many parasitic Lasius species have yellow workers. The best way to tell them apart is by looking at the queens. Check out images of Lasius interjectus, Lasius claviger, Lasius latipes, Lasius murphyi, etc. 

 

The yellow Lasius are subterranean, meaning they rarely come above ground. They get food by raising/tending underground root aphids, which produce liquid sugary stuff (very scientific terminology hahaha) for them to drink. 

 

I think what happened was the two species were living rather close together, separately.  When you lifted the rock the ants started to run around like they normally would and came in contact with one-another ... and subsequently started to fight. These ants are of completely different genera, so parasitism or cohabitation is not likely here.

 

So, for IDs: black ants are Tetramorium caespitum and the yellow ones are a parasitic species of Lasius (parasite of other Lasius like L. neoniger and L. alienus).

 

Here's a picture I made to describe my interpretation of the scene:

 

http://i.imgur.com/8yf0FFR.jpg
 

Edited by WeatherAnt, June 11 2014 - 9:26 AM.

[dspdrew]

Here's a picture I made to describe my interpretation of the scene:

 

http://i.imgur.com/8yf0FFR.jpg

[pliska_adam]

Update!

 

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to keep the update with the original post about this colony.  Today my daughter started yelling for me to come over to where she was. I was in the garage building more formicariums. I just can’t stop making them…  It’s fun.  I walked over to where she was and I could hardly believe it but this colony was in the middle of a swarm! This time I didn’t disturb them; I simply watched. I was pretty sure I was seeing the male ants coming out and starting to fly (and fly they did, in great numbers). The entire thing took perhaps twenty minutes, then it was done. I must have gotten very lucky to see it. Then I noticed something. A much much smaller flying ant near the colony. There were a few actually, kind of just milling around doing nothing.

 

I caught one and looked at it. It was black not orange like these. I figured another colony must be having a flight too. Then I seen one in the mess of orange ants… Oh my gosh I thought, could these be queen ants?  They didn’t look like queen ants. I cought some of the larger ones with wings and looked at them through a test tube. They didn’t have the distinctive small head large middle section I’ve come to get used to seeing in the other queens I caught. And THEN I looked down and seen an ant, with NO wings that was clearly the same as the one with wings that I had caught in my test tube. I immediately ran to the house and grabbed cotton balls and test tubes and looked for as many wingless ants as I could find. I found six. I watered the tubes and put cotton in like I normal do and left them in the dark. Could they really be mated queen ants of this awesome colony that I was only months before wishing I could get a colony of my own? I guess we’ll see if they settle and lay eggs… eggs that don’t just turn into males.

 

For the last treat of the night (well the nights not over…) I was looking for that seventh queen (which I never found) when I noticed something on the hood of my car. Four wings (two large, two small) just sitting there on the hood of my car. How could I get so lucky as to see all of this? Sadly (and I can’t prove this part) I seen the ant fall from the sky and land on the hood of my car. But I thought it was a male at the time and the swarm was in the middle of taking off out of the colony. I stopped watching it and went back to watching the colony. Had I kept watching I would have seen a female detach her wings and go off looking for a nesting site.  Nuts. When will I ever have that chance again? 

 

Anyway, pictures or it didn’t happen right?  Well look on J

 

https://db.tt/MlTSglwZ

 

https://db.tt/Vkuzz3nt

 

https://db.tt/qi9Uh2ZA

[Anhzor]

those look like parasitic lasius species, you should grab some worker from the same colony or boost them from pupae.

[pliska_adam]

Well… I did some research into this social parasitic spices and getting them up and going looks to be out of my league. I can try to grab some workers from the colony and see if I can get them to take but it seems complicated. They won’t use the test tube setup and instead go directly into the enclosure. Thanks for the advice. I’ll do what I can.

[Gregory2455]

Hope you succeed.

[Mercutia]

This looks like Lasius, one of the yellow kinds. I'm terrible at IDing Lasius to a species. xD

[dspdrew]

Nuts. When will I ever have that chance again?

Next year.

 

That's pretty awesome though. In such a short period of time, it's so hard to catch a lot of mating flights.

 

Edit: If you get them ID'd, you should make a post on the Mating Flight thread so it get's added if it's any info that's not already on there. At the end of the season I'm going to update the chart.

Edited by dspdrew, August 23 2014 - 7:39 AM.