22 replies to this topic

[antgenius123]

This blog post was made solely to observe ants in their natural habitat and for behavioral observations. Feel free to share your own findings.

 

 

 

 

Land structure: Dry,Sandy,Debris

Found: 04/01/17, 3pm

Species: Solenopsis Invicta

 

There were quite a few fire ants moving about the area so I'd say the colony was a few months old. It was the only one I found in the area but I also saw Paratrechina Longicornis close to this nest. So far I've counted about 5 colonies both Solenopsis and Paratrechina Longicornis in this area. They seem to be domnating  this area and it's not surprising there are no other species around. It could be a possible place to look for alates in the nuptial flight season considering its open and the amount of colonies residing here.

 

Notice an ant in the middle picture, bottom left corner

 

More posts coming soon

Edited by antgenius123, January 28 2017 - 11:45 PM.

[antgenius123]

 

Land structure: Dry,Sandy, Rocky

Found: 05/01/17, 1:32pm

Species: Possibly Tetramorium

 

Quite an active colony. Some scouts were roaming about looking for food which I suspect are termites because I've seen them hunting them in the past. Also there is a termite nest right next to their nest (the picture of the rotting wood) The ants nest is mainly just 5-10 holes near the termite nest.

 

Not sure if this is the same species but check out this video anyway:

 

(If you're interested in termites I may do a blog on raising them soon)

 

 

Edited by antgenius123, January 16 2017 - 11:33 AM.

[AnthonyP163]

I don't have pictures because it's winter, but the Lasius Neoniger seem to love invading their Tetramorium neighbors. For some reason, they always live close to each other. They dominate my neighborhood. I often see a pattern, Tetramorium overpowers Lasius, then Lasius overpower Tetramorium, etc. every year, it changes. This year, Tetramorium owned my backyard. On the sidewalks, Lasius pretty much gave all the Tetramorium a stiff arm, knocking them out easily. I'd say that the Lasius are good at invading, but not defending. Even though they do use great strategies like clogging up the entrance of their nest.

[antgenius123]

I don't have pictures because it's winter, but the Lasius Neoniger seem to love invading their Tetramorium neighbors. For some reason, they always live close to each other. They dominate my neighborhood. I often see a pattern, Tetramorium overpowers Lasius, then Lasius overpower Tetramorium, etc. every year, it changes. This year, Tetramorium owned my backyard. On the sidewalks, Lasius pretty much gave all the Tetramorium a stiff arm, knocking them out easily. I'd say that the Lasius are good at invading, but not defending. Even though they do use great strategies like clogging up the entrance of their nest.

Hm so true there's always a struggle between any species of ants that live in a certain area. Sometimes when a new species comes into a neighbourhood they steal an area from another colony or do raids inside colonies just like the ants above.

Edited by antgenius123, January 5 2017 - 7:24 AM.

[Alabama Anter]

In my area a Crematogaster species always fights with invicta. They manage to secure a small price of land in which they dominate. Solenopsis invicta can't get in without getting attacked.

[Alabama Anter]

Nest Structure: Huge debris dirt mound
Species: Solenopsis invicta
I

[antgenius123]

In my area a Crematogaster species always fights with invicta. They manage to secure a small price of land in which they dominate. Solenopsis invicta can't get in without getting attacked.

Hm interesting

[Alabama Anter]

In my area a Crematogaster species always fights with invicta. They manage to secure a small price of land in which they dominate. Solenopsis invicta can't get in without getting attacked.

Hm interesting

I'm really glad that there is some diversity near me. Like I love ❤️ Solenopsis invicta and all but they have it PUT in Tuscaloosa. Like I tried finding other ants and like legit I only found Crematogaster lineolata/cerasi, Solenopsis invicta, and 1 colony of YCA (which was destroyed 3-4 days later by our apt)
EDIT: I have to go 45-50 minutes to find Argentine ants XD

Edited by Alabama Anter, January 5 2017 - 9:12 AM.

[antgenius123]

 

 

In my area a Crematogaster species always fights with invicta. They manage to secure a small price of land in which they dominate. Solenopsis invicta can't get in without getting attacked.

Hm interesting

I'm really glad that there is some diversity near me. Like I love ❤️ Solenopsis invicta and all but they have it PUT in Tuscaloosa. Like I tried finding other ants and like legit I only found Crematogaster lineolata/cerasi, Solenopsis invicta, and 1 colony of YCA (which was destroyed 3-4 days later by our apt)
EDIT: I have to go 45-50 minutes to find Argentine ants XD

 

Sometimes I find ants in the strangest places. I even found ghost ants inside my bathroom in a crack in the wall. I don't even know how they survive there

[SamKeepsAnts]

In my yard a bunch of new pheidole morens colonies are fighting an older brachymyrmex colony

[antgenius123]

In my yard a bunch of new pheidole morens colonies are fighting an older brachymyrmex colony

Cool!

[AnthonyP163]

I watched a huge swarm of Solenopsis Molesta fight for 3 days straight with a Crematogasters colony. Somehow, the Crematogasters won.

[Nathant2131]

I don't have pictures because it's winter, but the Lasius Neoniger seem to love invading their Tetramorium neighbors. For some reason, they always live close to each other. They dominate my neighborhood. I often see a pattern, Tetramorium overpowers Lasius, then Lasius overpower Tetramorium, etc. every year, it changes. This year, Tetramorium owned my backyard. On the sidewalks, Lasius pretty much gave all the Tetramorium a stiff arm, knocking them out easily. I'd say that the Lasius are good at invading, but not defending. Even though they do use great strategies like clogging up the entrance of their nest.

Tetramorium and Lasius neoniger are the most common ants where I live, but I never see any struggle between the two, and like you said they live pretty close by.

[Leo]

well we have ghost ants dominating here a colony with a few hundred queens, patrichena longicordnis have small patches of territory here and there and then the pheidole just live in the flowerbeds, having wars with ghost ants. And then there are my ants 

[antgenius123]

well we have ghost ants dominating here a colony with a few hundred queens, patrichena longicordnis have small patches of territory here and there and then the pheidole just live in the flowerbeds, having wars with ghost ants. And then there are my ants 

Cool, there are ghost ants everywhere here, even in my living room. They come through the small spaces in the door.

[Leo]

there are odorous house ants in my house AND ghost ants, they clash with my ants, luckily they have lost every battle so far 

[antgenius123]

there are odorous house ants in my house AND ghost ants, they clash with my ants, luckily they have lost every battle so far 

They get into your formicariums?

[antgenius123]

UPDATE:26/01/17

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Land structure: Dry, Rocky

Found: 23/01/17, 4:11pm

Species: Not sure

 

Ok so quite a bit has happened since my last update. Firstly there were nuptial flights and I saw torn off wings from queens in the morning around 7am and dead males (couldn't get any pictures). Also, a fairly large sized colony that has expanded their nest in the last few days and I believe they raided a nearby nest of black ants. The nest in the first picture was dominated by the black ants most of the time but a few days ago I saw the colony boiling in and out of the nest. I also saw one of the workers carrying one of the dead black ants which was nearly triple its size. I presume in the end they used sheer numbers and their stingers to take down the colony. They even moved into a crack on the doorstep of my house and have multiple satellite nests. And to my surprise a neighbouring colony of the same species has also moved due to the heavy rains a few days ago which is very interesting.

 

P.S. I will be adding more pictures to this post soon. I have had some leads as to what species the "black ants" are but I am not sure entirely. If anyone has any ideas on what species this is I would appreciate it if you would let me know. Thanks.

Edited by antgenius123, January 27 2017 - 10:00 AM.

[antgenius123]

UPDATE:29/01/17

 

Ok, so this morning something pretty cool happened. I was strolling around my house just observing the ants and I saw some Odontoponera being attacked by Pheidole (with majors). At first I thought it was pretty normal but I didn't understand why such large numbers of Pheidole were rushing out. A few moments later my dog ran up to where the Odontoponera nest was and he started smelling the nest. Suddenly he jumped back and started barking. He started digging and digging ant about 5 minutes later I saw the remains of a  wall gecko. The Pheidole were rather fighting to take possesion of the wall gecko's carcass.

 

Land structure: Edge of a flower bed, Cracked cement

Found: 29/01/17, 7:03am

Species: Odontoponera sp. ,Pheidole sp.

 

 

Here are some pics:

I'll add pictures of the ants later

 

Lizards head

 

 

If you look closely you can see the lizards leg and tail in the centre of the pic

 

My dog 

 

Edited by antgenius123, January 28 2017 - 11:53 PM.

[Nathant2131]

Haha that's a pretty crazy story.