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• Posted Ant pupa? Other insect? (Dave, Madrid, Spain) to Ant Blog
  Hello there, I have a query about these ants we saw in our local park in Madrid, Spain. The ants themselves seemed fairly standard, with one nest hole, and a long line of foraging ants heading out to a nearby...
• Posted What kind of ant is this? (Uli, Brunei) to Ant Blog
  We found these ants below in Anduki (Seria, Brunei): ****** Hi Uli, The ants pictured belong to the genus Cataulacus, a group of arboreal-nesting ants widely distributed across the Old World tropics. The exact species is likely Cataulacus latissimus, one...
• Posted Can ants rotate their mandibles? (Katrina, Unknown) to Ant Blog
  Dear Ant Blog, All the photographs I see show ants using their mandibles like tongs. Can they rotate them like we can rotate our arms? Katrina ------------ Dear Katrina, Despite the fact that ants use their mandibles for a...
• Posted Help I don't know what to do with these scary ants (Joseph, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia) to Ant Blog
  Hi, We've had this ant problem for a long time now. There are these red ants about the length of a fingernail that inhibit a tree opposite our house across the road, they seem to be making a nest in...
• Posted How many ants are there alive on the planet? (Jane, Montana, USA) to Ant Blog
  Hi, I'm developing some educational materials on ecology for high school students in western Montana. As a small part of the project, I'd like to help the students to expand their idea of "population" to organisms other than human. So...
• Posted Childhood memory of African ant behavior to Ant Blog
  Hi, I've just read your web article about ant communication, which interests me. When I was a child in Africa I saw two species of ants fighting in my garden - small black ants (that we called sugar ants as...
• Posted Species richness (Alejandro) to Ant Blog
  Hello Antweb, I've been doing some research on ant species richness and was wondering what locality is considered to have the highest species richness and if there is any literature to back up this information, thanks! Hi Alejandro, Ant diversity...
• Posted Trophic eggs (Mark) to Ant Blog
  Hey, AntAnswerers! So, I've been thinking a bit about the situation with trophic eggs in ants. It apparently seems a pretty common practice among ant queens to eat some of their unembryonated eggs. Fair enough. What I don't understand is...
• Posted Transfer colony to new farm (Justin) to Ant Blog
  How difficult, if possible, is it to transfer an ant colony from a small easy maintenance starter farm to a much larger farm. Also how big would my farm have to be to have a full colony of pavement without...
• Posted Farmed queens (Anthony, UK) to Ant Blog
  How do I get my ant farm to produce more queens and how do I collect them? Dear Anthony, This can be a very difficult goal to accomplish. Ant colonies need to be very well established before they will begin...
• Posted Battling ants in winter (Christina, Kansas City) to Ant Blog
  We have been battling ants for about a month now and I'm just curious if we need to take it to the next level (ie- call in a professional) or if we are on the right track. First, some background,...
• Posted Ants from Argentina to Ant Blog
  Dear Ant Team, I am currently working on a project studying plant-insect interactions. Particularly indirect defenses against plant predators. In literature there are citations about ants behaving as watchdogs in exchange for a reward, in this case nectar. In my...
• Posted Identification? (Lena, U.S.A.) to Ant Blog
  Hello, We are trying to determine if this is an ant or a beetle: ****** Hi Lena, The insect pictured is in fact a beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It appears to belong to the New World genus Euderces, many...
• Posted Please ID (Josef, Czech Republic) to Ant Blog
  Dear Ant Team, I photograph insects...but I do not know ants. Can you help me identify the following species? Thank you very much. Best regards, Josef ****** Josef, Beautiful images! The species pictured are most likely (1) Aphaenogaster simonellii, (2)...
• Posted What Ant? (Peter, Australia) to Ant Blog
  Hi, I was wondering if you could identify this "ant" for me? Thanks Peter ________________________________ Hi Peter, This is not an ant but a member of a hemipteran group. Ants have chewing mouthparts (mandibles), and if you look closely,...
• Posted Not an ant, a cricket! (Patricia, California) to Ant Blog
  I am attaching two pictures. The first one titled corgi and ant is to give you the size relation of this 'bug' (ant?) to the size of an average Pembroke Welsh Corgi. The second picture is a close up of...
• Posted Can you help me with my ant science fair project? to Ant Blog
  Science fair students, Here at AntBlog we get many emails with questions about how to include ants in science fair projects. We are always glad to hear that people are interested in including ants in their science experiments. Depending on...
• Posted Are there army ants outside of San Diego? Spenser, California, USA to Ant Blog
  Dear askantweb, I found what seems to be an undocumented army ant while camping in San Diego County. Doing my best to remember, I recall these characteristics of the species: Morphology: Completely black Worker, major worker, and soldier classes 5...
• Posted Are these ants herding these insects? Becky, Georgia, USA to Ant Blog
  I'm sure you get a lot of questions phrased like my subject heading. But I'm stumped here! I've linked to two pictures I took in the woods in Atlanta, GA. http://www.flickr.com/photos/65837114@N00/7578847944/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/65837114@N00/7578844086/ From the far shot, it looks like...
• Posted What is happening in this photo? (Mike, Costa Rica) to Ant Blog
  Hello! Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. I was recently traveling in Costa Rica and happened to take a camera shot of some interesting ant behavior. I have no idea what is going on here, but...
• Posted Does geosmin affect ants? (Ian) to Ant Blog
  Dear Ask Ant Team, I was reading about geosmin, produced by bacteria and released when they die and which gives a distinctive smell after rain. Geosmin is very strongly aromatic and some researchers believe that humans can smell this compound...
• Posted Ant competition experiment (Alessandro, Italy) to Ant Blog
  Hello, First of all, many compliments for your blog: it's awesome and full of interesting and useful info. Secondly: I'd like to set up a competition experiment of two ant colonies in a formicarium I'd build myself. I'd like to...
• Posted What are these small black ants suddenly swarming in my house? Anna, Queensland, Australia to Ant Blog
  Hello, I stumbled across your very interesting blog whilst searching for an answer about ants. We live in the sub-tropics (Queensland, Australia) and just over a week ago experienced severe wet weather (flash flooding) due to an ex-cyclone passing...
• Posted Is there any place ants won't nest? to Ant Blog
  Hi, I am doing a class project on ants and I am just wondering is there anything that ants do not like to build nests near or close to, I know they like to build nests on geopathic stress lines...
• Posted What's up with ant evolution? Zoe, Belgium to Ant Blog
  Hi guys, First of all: this blog is really helpful, great work! So now, while trying to write a report on ants --focusing on aspects of evolution-- I stumble upon many many questions. I'm hoping you can help me...
• Posted Metallic golden ant (Ilsa, Jakarta, Indonesia) to Ant Blog
  Hi, I'm having some trouble identifying these ants I found in my garden today (in Tangerang, on the western outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia). I disturbed a small colony of very beautiful ants. At first I thought they were carpenter ants...
• Posted Are these ants lost? (Claudia, Central California) to Ant Blog
  I am a typical mom who knows only three things about ants: they have structured colonies, they carry 3x their weight, and they invade our home during the rainy season. I had never noticed this behavior before and came upon...
• Posted Ant origins, and beyond... to Ant Blog
  How far back does speculation go regarding the ancestry of ants? I have found that ants are thought to have come from wasps and I was wondering if speculation went further back to an ancestor for wasps etc. Is there...
• Posted An insect that looks like a queen ant to Ant Blog
  Hello "Askanant". My name is Corinne and I am in 4th grade. I have always wanted to study bugs when I grew up, and I am getting ready to do a science project on ants. (I am sending this message...
• Posted Are ants influenced by human hormones? (CJ, Australia) to Ant Blog
  The other day I was sitting outside my house with my friend. He and I were just sitting on the ground. There were a number of small black ants around us going about their business but not really in our...