Click to view full story of "Cool Ant Species in Nature Reserve"

CapitalO: Cool Ant Species in Nature Reserve (5. Nov 2007 02:22)

In the spring of 2007 I took a trip to an island off the coast of South Carolina USA, this was an untouched first class nature reserve called Bull Island. It was an amazing place, these pictures are a very small portion of the amazing sights we saw; the last of which shows a very large red ant of unknown species. I don't expect anyone to be able to give me an ID based upon the picture, but I thought I would share it anyway. The ants are about 1cm in length, they dwarf the red imported fire ant in comparison.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/capitalo/IMG_1624.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/capitalo/IMG_1608.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/capitalo/IMG_1600.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/capitalo/IMG_1587.jpg

Hope someone enjoyed these :)

Gordon C. Snelling: (5. Nov 2007 02:39)

At a guess I would say it is Pogonomyrmex badius, the only east coast member of this genus. I can think of no other large soil nesting ant that it might be.

CapitalO: (5. Nov 2007 04:16)

Thanks for the feedback Gordon. I think you could be right, I looked up Pogonomyrmex badius and the ants I saw seemed to fit the description really well. I think these ants would be an interesting species to keep, unfortunately this is the only place Ive ever seen them.

JimmyVe: (5. Nov 2007 16:09)

If i'm not mistaken, they are also called Florida harvester ant. So they have majors and minors. Red harvest ants, nice. ;)

Very nice pictures to. Looks like a cool place to live. ;)