Bay Area Ants

      Yesterday night (3/30/18), I went on a night hike near Mt. Diablo, CA. This post will cover everything ant-related during the hike. My father and I got there at around 9:15 PM, and began our little adventure.  My goal during this hike was to catch the largest species of ant native to Northern California,    a carpenter ant that nests in oak trees, that goes by the scientific name of  Camponotus Quercicola.  These are one of my favorite species, due to their gigantic size. They are interesting because, unlike most other species of ant in the United States, they are only found in CA! The reason we decided to hike at night, is because most species of carpenter ants are primarily nocturnal, and although the queens typically fly earlier on during the day, they are out and about most at night (if you have no idea what a flight of ants is, check out a previous post that covers it  here ) And now, onto the hike...       ...

     Ants continue to be some of the most successful creatures the world has ever seen due to their ability to adapt and thrive in a variety of conditions, from parched deserts, to lush, moist rainforests. Today, we'll be taking a look at one way ants utilize their environment to their advantage.      Yesterday morning, I saw my ants exhibiting an interesting behavior. One of my colonies, of the genus Formica (Yep, a colony of ants with a queen!), had moved some of their pupae to the top of their dirt setup. Here's a link to the setup they are in. I heat them up with a heating lamp, heating up one side of the formicarium. It looked like to me, that the ants liked the heat, so they moved their young up to the surface, where the heating lamp's heat was stronger! If you are wondering what this would look like, here are some pictures: Photo credits: Taken by me See those little ovals, with black dots on one side? Those are pupae!     ...

     Ants go through three different stages of life before becoming a full grown ant. In this post, I will go in depth into them and how each is kept healthy by the colony. Stage 1: Eggs      Like many insects, ants are born as eggs. The eggs are produced by the queen(s). They need to be kept at a healthy temperature and humidity for them to develop. These eggs will turn into larvae, given some time. This stage can last from a week, to multiple months, depending on the conditions and the species of ant that they belong to. Stage 2: Larvae      During the larval stage is when the young ant does most of it's growing. It starts off as a tiny larva, only about the size of the egg it emerged from. Then, as time progresses, the larva gets fatter and fatter, as the workers feed them the protein they need to develop. Once they are ready to move on to the next stage of their life cycle, the ants will do one of two things. Some ants, form "naked"...

     Just the other day, I was strolling around my backyard when something caught my eye. There was an abnormally fat ant sitting on one of the trees in my backyard. I knew that there were ants licking the nectar off of the tree, but I had never seen an ant of this size. It's gaster, or rear end, was inflated with a clear liquid. These are false honeypot ants, also known as winter ants. Their scientific name is Prenolepis Imparis . They are one of the species that have multiple queens! Anyways, in this post, I will explain how these bloated ants become the way they are, and the purpose they serve in their colony. This is the replete that was sitting on my tree:     As you can probably see, this ant has a very bloated gaster. In a winter ant colony, certain workers will be designated as repletes. These ants are tasked with the job of being moving food storage for the colony. They will eat a lot, and therefore become bloated. The repletes then regurgitate t...

    Ant colonies are often thought of as pests, but very few people have actually went deep into the fundamentals of the ant world. This post will be about how a colony functions during their reproductive and founding stages. The Start     A colony starts off with a single queen, which is born as a winged, unfertilized queen ant (alate). This queen will be born to another colony, and cared for and raised by the workers. Male alates are also cared for and raised by the workers. In fact, the only males in the most and colonies are male alates, all workers (and queens) are female.  So once the winged queen is born, does she just fly away and lay eggs? Well, not exactly. She does fly away, but in a much more organized way, called nuptial flights. These nuptial flights are triggered when certain weather patterns take place. These often include rain (especially in deserts), humidity, and warmth. During a nuptial flight, multiple colonies will send their al...

        Welcome to Bay Area Ants! On this blog, I will explore the fascinating and diverse world of ants, including, but not only, ants in the San Francisco Bay Area. These creatures are much more interesting than most people think. For example, did you know that ants started farming well before humans ever roamed the earth? Or that ants have wrestling matches to settle territory disputes? If you find this interesting, you have come to the right place. Enjoy!