ANTSTORE World of Ants

[SirJet]

LOCATION: South England (Berkshire).

I discovered this nest of Red ants constructed underneath a clay pigeon.

The nest is located on the edge of a woodland and the sun shines on the nest area in the mid afternoon.

They look like Myrmica rubra to me.


Thumbnails:

Close up
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Nest under clay pigeon
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Nest 1
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Nest 2
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Nest 3
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Queen?
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Direct Links to Images:

Close up = Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

Nest under clay pigeon = Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

Nest 1 = Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

Nest 2 = Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

Nest 3 = Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

Queen? = Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

[SteveUK28]

well im almost 100% sure they are Myrmica.. not sure what spec tho. However.. Great find

[SirJet]

Thanks, pictures were better than I first thought, especialy the brood.

[Skippy]

hehe they built very nice nest , yes it is some Myrmica sp. .... and on "Nest 3" and "Queen?" picures is queen

[SirJet]

There's a dozen more nests like this one nearby, also under old clays.

[SteveUK28]

you could always collect one sirjet

[ratgreen]

yer, if there is that many, collecting a colony may actually benifit the ants as there is less fighting over food, and you also get a free colony.

[SirJet]

Finding a mated queen is the difficult part in a wood. I don't want to take one from the nest.

[miszt]

you can be almost positive its Myrmica rubra in the UK, other species are not common at all

[mpir]

Finding a mated queen is the difficult part in a wood. I don't want to take one from the nest.

Myrmica rubra colonies have many queens - taking one will not harm the colony.

[SirJet]

Counted over 20 nests in the area today, all under clays.

Some of the nests have lots of tiny white bugs running around inside, much smaller than an ant or any of the brood, are these a parasite?

Also noticed that at each nest site there where very few (if any) ants on the surface foraging, nearly all the ants where inside the nest out of view.

[MrNixy]

100% Myrmica rubra, they wont be seen much in day as they like to hunt at night. The small white things are probably mites, they arnt a bad thing in the wild as they clean up the rubbish the ants dont want but you don't want them in the farm, they breed like crazy.

I wish I could find some near me, hell, collect a nest and ill buy one from ya.

[JimmyVe]

Yes probably Myrmica rubra. Like i said before, its not that they like to hunt at night. They also hunt during day, they only don't like really high temperatures, if it gets hotter than 25°c they are less active so than they will hunt at night.

You could collect a few workers and a queen from a big colony with more queens. That wouldn't harm the colony, just make sure you don't disturb to much of the colony.

[SteveUK28]

mine are always out in the day but i dont see hardly any activity during the night..

[SirJet]

Unfortunately the small white things are too small to photograph, but they don't appear to be on the ants themselves.

There are one or two huge colonies and a lot of smaller ones. Apart from the initial peak I'm leaving them alone and undisturbed.