There are several ant nests on my property this year. I suspect that there have always been but this is the first time that they have been large enough, and sufficiently prominent, that I have noticed them. The one above is the biggest I have spotted so far. Every time I pass there is a great deal of activity. I am reasonably sure that they belong to the group (sub-genus) Formica rufa – which are wood ants (there are about 200 different types of wood ant). I don’t think that they are the protected species Formica rufa (after which the sub-genus is named) because they are not red enough and I don’t have enough pine needles for them in my garden. They have built a classic mound nest though so they are wood ants of some description I am sure.
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There are probably about 100,000 individuals within the colony servicing the needs of about 100 queen ants and their offspring. The workers in the video are either helping to build up the mound or bringing back food for the developing young within. Wood ants are voracious hunters, mostly eating other arthropods but also farming aphids for the honeydew that they produce. This farming is often a symbiotic relationship; this means that the aphids and the ants both get something from it. The aphids provide sugary juice for the ants (extracted from whatever plants they happen to be living on) and the ants protect the aphids from predators such as ladybirds.
Apparently wood ants can spray formic acid several feet from their abdomen so I may go and poke the colony with a stick to see what happens. Or perhaps not…
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Questions…
- What might be the pH of formic acid?
- What characteristics do arthropods share?
- What trophic level do wood ants occupy?
- Suggest a feature that distinguishes arachnids from insects?
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I have not seen this yet but I gather from reviews that it is great fun. Have you seen it? What did you think?
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