Ants Upended

Last year Gary Alpert, who works with E O Wilson at Harvard, studying ants, told me about a new invasive species he was looking for. By chance I turned over a piece of wood and found these. Two days later, while walking counterclockwise around the pond, and with Gary and Scout walking clockwise, we met at the exact spot where the ants were found. Gary thinks they are Myrmica Rubra, also known as the Red Field Ant. Unlike many other ants who spit Formic Acid and bite with pincers, these ants have stingers and poison sacs like bees and wasps. As an invasive species spreading across the country, they may have unpredictable consequences such as causing extreme allergic reactions in people they bite or alter the biological landscape by eliminating some other important species required to maintain a stable biological environment.

Photo: http://www.myrmecos.net/myrmicinae/MyrRub3.html

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmica_rubra

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• ants
• insects
• bugs
• animals
• nature
• invasive
• species
• MyrmicaRubra
• Myrmica
• Rubra
• RedFieldAnt
• RitchieFilm
• Canon
• FPR
• FreshPond

[BallPythonlover]

cool

[deathfighternoob]

thats boring...

[slavdude777]

wow

[XNikLacX]

holy shit thats scary