Insect Picture of the Day

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These ants are of the genus myrmica. I was unable to determine the exact species. Many insects are not identifiable past the genus level except by entomologists who specialize in that type of bug; myrmica ants are just one such genus. Myrmica ants are “generalist predators and scavengers” according to myrmecos.net, a website devoted to photography of ants and other insects.

I caught some myrmica ants last week and put them in a very cool ant habitat manufactured by Antworks. Here’s what I have learned from the experience so far:

1. French fries work really well as bait.
2. Ants may freak out and huddle for well over 48 hours if you put them in your ant habitat. (Mine did.)
3. It’s an ant habitat, not an ant farm. “Ant Farm” is a trademark of Uncle Milton Inc.
4. Myrmica ants can easily fit through the half-millimeter airholes in the lid of an Antworks ant habitat.
5. Once one ant goes through, it leaves a scent dot that says “I made it! I’m freeeeee!” and all of the other ants will immediately bolt for the same hole.
6. It takes about 30 seconds for 20 ants to escape through the airhole.
7. The french fry works really well as bait again.
8. Taping the air holes works, but you have to take the lid off every day for a few seconds to change their air.
9. Wiping a thin layer of olive oil around the top of the cage prevents the ants from climbing the cage to get at the lid, and you can take the tape off the air holes. Plus the VHDLs in olive oil are good for their cholesterol.
10. Myrmica ants tunnel toward light sources–my ant farm has a clear gel for them to tunnel in and has little lights at the bottom to illuminate the ant farm. The ants tunneled directly down to the lights at the bottom.

That last intrigues me. In the next few days I intend to conduct an experiment to see if they will tunnel sideways towards an external light source.