Remodeling or housecleaning?

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Another hot day in North Texas, eh! The cooler weather last week sorta spoiled me.

This afternoon, I stopped to watch this red ant. It was most fascinating! I wondered if she was remodeling, cleaning house, or perhaps rearranging the furniture down below. Multiple times she brought grains of dirt to the entry way. And then later she took the dirt back into the hole.

Watching carefully, I could see that she not only seemed to use her mandibles, but the antennas also appeared to be like an extra set of hands.

A bath may be in order? See the dirty face?

After checking with my ant scientist, she said that it was a harvester ant. The queens start out alone so perhaps she was a newly mated female at her first home. No wonder she was doing all the remodeling! Thanks Diane!

Ant antennae are a two-way communication system

Face to Face with Ants

Queen Ant

Spider Slander Runs Rampant Online

Keep looking!

The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know.

5 Comments

  2. I’ve had a harvester ant nest in my yard for almost twenty years now. Recently watched males & females taking off on their mating flights soon after our big rainfall (when the ground is soft), but I’ve never found a new queen starting her nest. Very few succeed – let’s hope she does. Thanks for the great videos.

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