Just What Makes that Ant?
While working in the garden, I stooped to pick up a bag of mulch, which had been laying there for a few weeks, and noticed hundreds of ants, scrambling about to pick up their eggs and carry them underground to safety. I quickly got my camera out of the truck and took some pictures. Later, I went to the computer to identify the ants.
According to a publication from the Penn State Entomology Department, the ants were the typical pavement ants. These ants are an introduced species and one of the most commonly encountered house-infesting ants in Pennsylvania. The pavement ants were likely carried to the United States in the holds of merchant vessels during the 1700s to 1800s. These ships were filled in Europe with soil to provide ballast on the trip to America. Once in port the soil was removed, and the ships were loaded with goods to take back to Europe.
The pavement ant is a soil-nesting specie that currently has a distribution from New England to the Midwest; south through the Mid-Atlantic States to Tennessee; parts of California and Washington.
Winged reproductive ants typically swarm in the spring but have been known to emerge from heated structures throughout the year. It is not uncommon to see these ants swarming in late fall and during February in colder climates.
The ants mate after emerging. The queens, of which there are many, burrow into the soil to begin laying eggs. Worker ants develop over a two-to-three-month period. Homeowners become aware of these ants as they mine the sand and soil from under concrete slabs, patios, sidewalks, driveways, and basements. These ants are often referred to as mason ants due to their nesting behavior of moving the dirt.
The pavement ants are one size in a colony. They do possess stingers; however, a person will not be stung unless resting an arm or leg over an infested area.
Pavement ants feed on a wide variety of food, including sugar, nectar, fruits, and syrups; grease, dead insects, and small seeds are collected and stored in the nest. Most morsels of food that fall to the floor will be consumed.
Ants are common insects, with some unique capabilities. More than 12,000 known ant species occur worldwide. In tropical forests, the ant population could be half of all the insects living in some locations.
Perhaps some of you remember this song recorded by Frank Sinatra.
Just what makes that little old ant
Think he'll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant can't move a rubber tree plant
But he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes
He's got high apple pie, in the sky hopes
So any time you’re gettin' low
'Stead of lettin' go
Just remember that ant
Oops! There goes another rubber tree plant.
Ants have amazing strength, with the ability to carry up to 50 times their own weight. In comparison, a second grader would be able to pick up a car.
The following are amazing facts about ants: some queen ants could live for many years and lay millions of eggs; ants do not have ears, with hearing made possible by feeling vibrations in the ground through their feet; usually, when ants fight, it is to death; foraging ants leave a pheromone trail so they know where they’ve been; queen ants have wings that are shed when a new nest is begun; ants have no lungs, with oxygen entering and carbon dioxide leaving through tiny the holes of their bodies.
The colony only survives a few months after the queen dies, since queens are rarely replaced, and the workers are unable to reproduce.
There are three kinds of ants in a colony: queens, female workers, and males. The queen and the males have wings, while the workers have none. The queen is the only ant able to lay eggs. The male’s job is to mate with future queen ants. Males have a short life after mating. Once the queen grows to adulthood the remainder of her life is spent laying eggs. A colony could have one queen or many queens, depending on the species.
Ant colonies also have soldier ants, with the job of protecting the queen; defending the colony; gathering or killing food, and attacking enemy colonies searching for nesting space. When another ant colony is defeated, the eggs are taken. After the eggs hatch, the new ants become the "slave" ants for the colony.
If payment ants enter into your home, they can be controlled and the colony eliminated through the use of baits that workers carry back to the nest. Many different types of bait are available to the homeowner in this regard. However, baits containing boric acid are slower acting and do not kill the workers before they have had a chance to share the bait with the queen and developing immature ants. Place the baits in areas where ant activity has been observed and make certain that neither children nor pets can reach them. Maintain a sufficient amount of baits to satisfy the colony by replacing used baits. Baiting can require two weeks or longer obtaining control.