th15IH
th15IH th15IH
the pinhole of light shining through the entrance, the whole house would be completely dark. To get from room to room, we’d have to smell our way with our antennae. Our rooms would have domed ceilings, tall enough for a couple of us to stand on top of each other. Because we’d have clingy feet, we could even walk on the ceiling! We might have a few hundred sisters—sometimes up to 10,000 living with us—so every now and again, we’d bump into one of our sisters and give her a friendly tap with our antennae. If she seemed hungry, we might spit a bit of food for her to eat. If she seemed dirty, we’d help clean her with our mouths and antennae. It might take us a long time to get all the way to the bottom. Remember, our nests are at least the human equivalent of a mile. Our older sisters live in the upstairs rooms, and our younger sisters live with our mothers deep down. Our queen mothers wander around the bottom of our nest in the dark laying their eggs. Our younger sisters help feed the babies and keep them clean while our older sisters gather food for us. Life Underground If we were winter ants, we would not be able to hear well, and anyway, it’s quiet so far underground. We can’t hear children running over us or leaves falling on our entrance. We don’t know somebody’s dad’s car just parked next to our own driveway. School of Ants Map - Winter Ant North American distribution of the winter ant. Visit www.schoolofants.org/species/96 for an interactive version. Beneath the roots, we don’t get wet when the sprinkler showers over our home and across the lawn in the summertime. We don’t hear the thud of the family dog flopping right on top of us to gnaw on a tennis ball. But it’s all there, all above us, all over New York and the United States. If we were winter ants, we’d miss out on a lot about the fascinating lives of people. We’re lucky we’re not winter ants. We’re people, active all year long, and able to understand and delight in the winter ant’s secret wonderland, deep below our feet. 51
8 Field Ant Formica Field ants aren’t country bumpkins. These big, beautiful ants are some of the most fashionable ants in the city. Photo by Alex Wild
- Page 2 and 3: Introduction by Rob Dunn Nearly a d
- Page 4 and 5: & Order knows, when you push aside
- Page 6 and 7: up what scurried away. Sure enough,
- Page 8 and 9: students had found. As James stared
- Page 10 and 11: many individuals of Nylanderia flav
- Page 12 and 13: A word cloud of ant species collect
- Page 14 and 15: Credits About This Interactive Book
- Page 16 and 17: 1 Ants What’s the big deal about
- Page 18 and 19: and males have wings, those wings s
- Page 20 and 21: Shorn larvae fall over like little
- Page 22 and 23: While ant nests differ greatly, whe
- Page 24 and 25: Meet the Black Carpenter Ant The bl
- Page 26 and 27: Movie - Black Carpenter Ants I used
- Page 28 and 29: 3 Lasius Ant Lasius Lasius ants are
- Page 30 and 31: space. Many more types of engineers
- Page 32 and 33: School of Ants Map - Lasius Ant hea
- Page 34 and 35: Meet the Pavement Ant Wars happen i
- Page 36 and 37: Pavement ants are not native to New
- Page 38 and 39: Meet the Odorous House Ant People a
- Page 40 and 41: These creatures depend on odorous h
- Page 42 and 43: We know they love to nest in mulch.
- Page 44 and 45: Meet the Crazy Ant Crazy relatives.
- Page 46 and 47: Once they move in, they gobble up a
- Page 48 and 49: 7 Winter Ant Prenolepis imparis Win
- Page 50 and 51: All that depth serves a purpose. Wh
- Page 54 and 55: Meet the Field Ant Formica ants, us
- Page 56 and 57: Sometimes their partiality for pudg
- Page 58 and 59: School of Ants Map - Field Ant Nort
- Page 60 and 61: Meet the Asian Needle Ant The Asian
- Page 62 and 63: the area around the sting. For thos
- Page 64 and 65: Our forest is a lot like the car fa
- Page 66 and 67: Meet the Winnow Ant Aphaenogaster r
- Page 68 and 69: Seed planting is a successful busin
- Page 70 and 71: Meet the Big Headed Ant The first t
- Page 72 and 73: Photo Gallery - Big heads, little h
- Page 74 and 75: 12 Little Black Ant Monomorium mini
- Page 76 and 77: In our ant stalkings, Will and I qu
- Page 78 and 79: 13 Thief Ant Solenopsis molesta Nev
- Page 80 and 81: they feel their way to and from foo
- Page 82 and 83: Argentine ants and yellow crazy ant
- Page 84 and 85: Meet the Acrobat Ant One summer, I
- Page 86 and 87: Photo Gallery - Acrobat reproductiv
- Page 88 and 89: 15 Honeyrump Ant Brachymyrmex depil
- Page 90 and 91: School of Ants Map - Brachymymex An
- Page 92 and 93: Agricultural and Forest Entomology,
- Page 94 and 95: eetle (Coleoptera : Scarabaeidae) i
- Page 96 and 97: (Hymenoptera : Formicidae) and Lasi
- Page 98 and 99: Milford, E. 1999. Ant communities i
- Page 100 and 101: Nygard, J. P., Sanders, N. J. & Con
8<br />
Field Ant<br />
Formica<br />
Field ants aren’t country bumpkins. These<br />
big, beautiful ants are some of the most<br />
fashionable ants in the city.<br />
Photo by Alex Wild
Change language