In early June, I caught many different queen ants in my driveway (where the gravel meets the grass, slightly shaded but mostly sunny). I live just outside of city limits, with a fairly large yard and a forest located nearby (I live in Arkansas). I caught them in the daytime (around 3PM) the day after a storm... it was very hot. The queens are all about 7-8 mm in length, and about 1 mm wide (the gasters are 2mm wide). The gaster is black, with the rest of the body being a very dark brown (the legs appear to be a slightly lighter brown). Although difficult to see, they are covered in hair (the thorax seems to lack hair, but it may just be very small). The petiole has 2 nodes. Right now, most of the queens have brood, with one of them having around ten workers. These workers are exceptionally small in comparison to the queen, although that may be because they are nanitics (I'm not sure how much bigger future workers will get). When alarmed, the workers seem to raise their gasters in the air. I apologize for the low quality picture. If you need any more information, feel free to ask away!
Edited by theneuro, July 11 2016 - 6:27 PM.
