Here is my small nervous Formica subsericea. These are black field ants, you can tell them from carpenter ants because they are shiner, only come in one size (no majors with big heads) and their thorax has a dent rather than a hump. They also move differently from carpenter ants which tend to be more deliberate and less spastic.
Today I gave them fruit flies and they have eagerly piled them up in front of the queen. Who looks like she just wants to go to sleep.
Even the queen moves quickly. They are always fighting over who gets to carry what. There is generally a small clutch of eggs in the nest and I have never seen them set it down. An ant is always proudly holding the cluster of new eggs and she won’t let her sisters help her hold it. I think they must sit it down when it’s dark and quiet in the nest— but if I’m taking photos? well we never get to see them calm first that reason! Ants notice photographers! #formica#ants#antvideo
Tulip, the eastern black carpenter ant (Camponotus pennsylvanicus) is a median worker. She likes to hang out at the highest point of the driftwood branch. Like most elderly ants (she is nearly 2 years old) she no longer enters the main nest. (I think older ants avoid the nest chambers to prevent disease) she spends a lot of time looking up… she has escaped twice. On her first escape I gave her the pink dots. #antVideo#withNarration#namedAnts