Pavement ant

Pavement ant
Tetramorium caespitum worker
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Genus: Tetramorium
Species: T. caespitum
Binomial name
Tetramorium caespitum
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The pavement ant (Tetramorium caespitum) is an ant native to Europe, which also occurs as an introduced pest in North America. Its common name comes from the fact that colonies in North America usually make their homes in pavement. It is distinguished by one pair of spines on the back, two nodes on the petiole, and grooves on the head and thorax .[1]

During early spring, colonies attempt to conquer new areas and often attack nearby enemy colonies. These result in huge sidewalk battles, sometimes leaving thousands of ants dead. Because of their aggressive nature, they often invade and colonize seemingly impenetrable areas outside their native range. In summer, the ants dig out the sand in between the pavements to vent the nests.

Diagram of the pavement ant. (a = queen; b = queen after loss of wings; c = male, d = worker, e = larva; g = pupa; f = head of larva more highly magnified)

Pavement ants were studied on the International Space Station in 2014.[2]

Description

The pavement ant is dark brown to blackish, and 2.5–4 mm long. Like other ants there are the workers, alates, and a queen. Alates, or new queen ants and drones, have wings, and are at least twice as large as the workers.

The drone's only job is to mate with the virgin alates, and reproduction is at its highest in spring and summer. Tetramorium, like many other ants have nuptial flights where drones fly high up in the air and mate with new queens. The dealate, or newly fertilized slate, finds a suitable nesting location and digs a founding chamber called the clausteral chamber/cell. As the eggs hatch and the ants develop they will spend that time, about two to three months, tending to the queen of their colony. They will continue helping in the colony until they are a month old.

Older workers hunt and defend the colony. They will eat almost anything, including insects, seeds, honeydew, honey, bread, meats, nuts, ice cream and cheese. The pavement ant serves as host to the ectoparasitic Tetramorium inquilinum.

References

  1. ↑ "Pavement ant — Tetramorium caespitum". University of California, Davis. 2004-01-26.
  2. ↑ Ants Hold Their Own Searching in Space, Discovery News, March 31, 2015
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