What do ants do when they encounter ants from a different colony?

There are more than 12,500 described ant species to date and many more awaiting description. Each species has a distinct biology. In the majority of cases, an intruder would be killed by the workers of the resident colony.

However, if the intruder is from a colony that is closely related to the new colony, then the workers might not be able to recognize it as foreign and it could sneak in. There are a few ant species, which would accept an ant from a different colony. These ants usually are more primitive in their social organization.  The queen does not take part in the decision process, her job is to lay eggs and to produce pheromones (chemicals), which signalize her dominance over the workers regarding reproduction. The workers perform the task that also involve nest defense against ants from other colonies.

Ants subterranean structures revealed

THE ANT COLONY WAS ABANDONED

A research that finds out how one of the subterranian ants structures looks like, its just amazing, can't stop watching this wonderful creatures, love them... Please, comment about it and tell me what u think..

Lasius Flavus

Taxonomy: Formicinae

Size: Workers: 3.5 - 5 mm, Queen: 8 - 9 mm

Color: Brilliant Black

Distribution: Europe, Mediterranean region, Siberia, although it also occurs in Asia and eastern North America.

Food: Mainly honey or sugar with water and protein later in the form of insects.

Hibernation: Yes

Temperature: 20 ° ~ 25 ° C

Nest building: soil, build mounds of earth between grasses and stones.

Camponotus Sp

The Camponotus is a genus of ant that occurs in much of the world and is known in many countries as a carpenter ant, because these common ants elect the inside of rotten wood as the ideal place for her nest. This bacterium synthesizes essential amino acids and other nutrients to the excellent development of the colony.
 TECHNICAL DATA:
 Kingdom: Animalia;
 Phylum: Arthropoda;
 Class: Insecta;
 Order: Hymenoptera;
 Family: Formicidae;
 Subfamily: Formicinae;
 Genus: Camponotus.

 Habitat: Forests where the dominant vegetation consists of trees, rotten wood, etc.. Today live with us and tend to make their nests inside of doors and windows as well as in electronics.
 Nuptial flight during the year in northeastern Brazil;
 Food: Honey, nectar, fruits and insects.
 Size:
 - Reina: 1.6 - 1.8 cm.
 - Male: 1 cm.
 - Workers: 0.8 to 1.5 cm.

This text was copied from the Brazilian blog "As Minhas Formigas" (My ants).

Dorymyrmex bicolor



Dorymyrmex bicolor ants are common in Arizona, especially in open areas.

A few months ago my father visited an agricultural research station and found almost a monoculture Dorymyrmex.

The first thing you notice about Dorymyrmex bicolor colonies is pure circular mounds.

Tofilski and Ratnieks (2005) studied the formation of two Brazilian colonies Dorymyrmex Hill. They found that the worker ants removal of excavated material from the nest deposited their loads on the crest of the hill and beyond, preventing the rolling back to the entrance hole. They also indicated that workers maintained the circular form, when one side was removed, the climbing area with the slightest inclination to deposit their loads.

Ratnieks observed that ants of other larger species had difficulty climbing the hills, suggesting the mounds served a protective function.

By the way, you can recognize these ants with a different name. Before a revision of the genus, was known as Dorymyrmex bicolor bicolor Conomyrma. With this name, they had a brief burst of limelight when möglich and Alpert (1979) found that they exhibited use tool dropping small stones over their competitors, especially the workers Myrmecocystus. Find ants who stoned his enemies has caused quite a stir, as you can imagine.