Need ant i.d.

[bugmankeith]

Ok so the strangest thing happened today.

I was cleaning out some old solar powered walkway lights that had been in my garage for the fall so I bought them inside my house because it's just too cold here in NY to wash them off outside in the bitter cold.

So I open up this one broken lamp after washing it under cold water for like 5 minutes. (the post you stick inside the ground was off so it left an open hole in the bottom of the light)

I open the light and all of a sudden something like 50 ants start swarming out of the light onto the basement floor, mind you after it being winter and after being submerged in cold water for 5 minutes they were more than alive.

So I kinda felt bad for the ants so I didnt step on them, instead I left for a few to get a jar, when i get back they had all bunched into a group right on my floor sticking by their fellow ants, it must have been a small colony hibernating inside that broken light for the winter, there are about 3 sizes of ants.

My question is what kind of ants are they, I actually have never seen them before, i'm thinking one may be a queen and some may be workers that usually only live underground, but thats just a guess. I see a few holding what looks like plant lice or aphids, I guess there food for winter?

Anyway i'm hoping to let them go outside by the broken light in hopes they will all crawl back in and gather together again, I jsut want to know if it should be in a bush, by my house, or by an old tree.

What ants are these?

 

[KyuZo]

sorry i don't know exactly what kind they are but if you are going to be keeping them temperarily try feeding them a few drops of sweet.

do this, take a little bit of sugar and mix with a small amount of water and put ONE - TWO drops in there. see if they'll drink or eat it.
don't drop it on them, but in the middle of the cup.

let me know if it work.

 

[bugmankeith]

I gave them honey mixed with water, two tiny drops, they immedietly started drinking it.

 

[KyuZo]

cool cool, when you mention about the aphids that they have in their mouth, those are like their sheeps that they raise. the aphids feeding on plants, then excrete from their behind a sweet liquid that the ants harvest. there is a scientific name for this relationship that i learned in bio class, but i forgot (someone help me here?).

so cool, just keep them warm and feed them for the winter and they'll be alright.

 

[myrmecophile]

They are as near as I can tell from the picture a Camponotus "carpenter ant " species. The things they are apparently holding are most likely very small larvae. If you let them go anywhere outdoors this time of year they will most certainly die.

 

[PhilK]

It's called symbiosis KyuZo

 

[KyuZo]

It's called symbiosis KyuZo

Thanks PhilK! I knew that someone out there know it.

 

[bugmankeith]

I actually had to let them go. What I did was I reconstructed the light and one by one placed each ant inside, they stayed put being they smelt their scent all over it. So after eating a little they have fat bellies now to keep them fed.

I placed the light behind my shed out of the wind and covered the light with a bunch of dry leaves. It was fairly warm today (in the 50's) so it wasnt too much of a shock. If you saw the area it's quite warm and the snow cant get to it.

Anyway I checked on them after and they are all still in there bunched together alive, exactly the way they were before I opened that light. There busy feeling each other with their antennae.

It could be they are larvae in their mouths, which is pretty cool.

 

[anter]

cool cool, when you mention about the aphids that they have in their mouth, those are like their sheeps that they raise. the aphids feeding on plants, then excrete from their behind a sweet liquid that the ants harvest. there is a scientific name for this relationship that i learned in bio class, but i forgot (someone help me here?).

so cool, just keep them warm and feed them for the winter and they'll be alright.

O yeah, the sweet secretions are normally called Honeydew. The ants will probably raise a huge colony of the aphids in the spring. Around where I live, thousands of aphids guarded by fast, big black ants 24, 7 have infested a garden of exotic flowers. Only a monthe ago, there were only about 15 or 30 aphids tended by the ants.:razz:

 

[nepenthes]

How many waist segments, how long in mm's? Coloration, where located in the wild (what part of the state)? Do you have a queen? Do you know what a queen looks like?