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THE WESTERN THATCHING ANT – PINE
NEEDLE SPECIALISTS
BY JOHN M. REGAN
Unless you are the unfortunate soul who has never strolled about our
magnificent Northwest forests you have encountered one of the nearly innumerable
domes of pine needles that seem to sprout up all over the forest floor.
These piney pyramids, often as much as three feet tall, are the work of
one of our better known insects – the Western Thatching Ant,
Formica obscuripes.
A medium sized ant, about one quarter of an inch long,
F. obscuripes is found in a wide
range of habitats and climates.
From New Mexico to Michigan, throughout the Midwest, and into Alberta Thatching
Ants have laid claim to a huge swath of territory.
Don't sit on that comfortable looking pillow of pine needles! It is somebody's home. These remarkable ants build these structures three to four feet high and at least as many feet below the ground. Air cooled in summer and relatively warm in winter these piney palaces are home to hundreds of thousands of Thatching Ants all working in unison, and not one needs a written instruction. The amazing sensory abilities of ants is one of nature's wonders.
Thatching ants display a red head and abdomen with a black thorax.
Smaller than the big black Carpenter Ant these guys easily make up in
numbers for any lack in size. Step
closer to one of those pine needle palaces sometime, especially on a warm day,
and you will be astounded at the dense population and frenetic activity going on
there. These nests, up to three
feet tall and four or five feet across at the base, also extend five to seven
feet underground according to some sources.
Although they manage to become pests in some areas, Thatching Ants are
for the most part beneficial insects.
Beetles and other pests that attack trees as larvae or adults face the
wrath of F. obscuripes should they come into the ant’s territory.
They are not primarily predators, however.
Thatching Ants are meticulous farmers and carefully tend herds of aphids
in return for aphid “honeydew.”
This sugary liquid is produced by the aphids in response to stimulus by the ants
and makes up a very important part of the Thatching Ant diet.
Like their myrmicidian colleagues in the insect agricultural world they
will vigorously defend their flock.
No matter where in the country Thatching Ants are found they display the
quality that gives them their name.
In open prairie sage country or deep Northwest forests the Thatching Ant can be
identified by its unique home construction style.
In our area pine needles are an obviously abundant resource.
Ants, if anything, are practical creatures hence the enormous number of
pine needle domes that decorate our forests.
In the drier Midwest the ants gather up whatever material is available.
Thatching Ants, like most of their ant brothers, do not take kindly to
disruption of their daily activities.
They will attack, bite, and spray anything they interpret as a threat to
their home or honeydew dinner. They
have a relatively strong bite that is reinforced with and ant form of artillery
– a spray of formic acid. The bite
and stinging acid from several thousand ants is an event even the most daring
thrill seeker one wishes to experience.
So if you are hiking about in the great Northwest and decide to take a
break, heed this warning. That
comfortable looking dome of pine needles is not there for the comfort of your
posterior! It is the home of the
Western Thatching Ant – and they do not appreciate trespassers.
HOOAH
Jack
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AFGHAN ARABIA WILD
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