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.