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Photo Gallery - Acrobat reproductives
acrobat ants might live. Picture all the towering trees, with their
seemingly infinite number of branches, stems and leaves, jutting
out against the sky. Now picture one tiny ant, a newly mated
queen, a slightly bigger apple seed, embarking alone for the
journey of her life.
All kinds of animals like spiders, mice, beetles, and birds would
love to snack on our queen, and the forest trembles with life as
these predators peek and poke about, looking for a treat. Our
queen, our apple seed, keeps her course, searching the branches
for an abandoned beetle or termite gallery to make her new
home. When she finds one, she settles in, laying eggs that will
become her empire.
An acrobat ant queen receiving a lot of attention from her dedicated
workers (C. lineolata). - © Alex Wild
Even so, you can tell acrobat ants from other types of ants by
their heart-shaped bottoms, or gasters. They trail in happy lines
to and from food. When disturbed, acrobat ants halt and wave
these hearts in the air like proud flag bearers in a pageant.
It’s hard to imagine how acrobat ants are among the most
abundant ants in forests and homes, considering how fragile
colony-founding goes for them. Imagine the big forest where
For every 100 acrobat ant queens that journey to find a new
home, less than eight survive to form a colony. Once formed, the
colony can live 10 to 15 years and may have from a few to several
thousand workers crawling across the branches, eating
everything from nectar to other insects.
Those workers help keep forests healthy and balanced. Acrobat
ants help protect or sustain at least two endangered species: the
Miami blue butterfly and the red cockaded woodpecker. In
exchange for a sweet substance produced by Miami blue
caterpillars, acrobat ants feistily fend off would-be butterfly
poachers like birds and other ants. They also are the red
cockaded woodpecker’s primary diet. Wiping out acrobat ants
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