365 Urban Species. #243: Pavement Ant

[urbpan]

Photos by urbpan. Location: Drumlin Farm.

Urban species #243: Pavement ant Tetramorium caespitum

Little piles of dirt form on sidewalk cracks, busy with tiny goings-on. Only an eighth of an inch long (3mm), each pavement ant is a member of a colony of perhaps three of four thousand individuals. There are several queens in each colony, a fact that probably contributes to the great success and wide distribution of this species. This ant is native to Europe, but like many other European invertebrates (including, but not limited to the nightcrawler, woodlouse, woodlouse spider, pill bug, and ground beetle) was introduced elsewhere in the soil ballast of ships. The cities on eastern half of North America can claim this ant as one of their most familiar creatures, and it is found in some Pacific coast places as well. Pavement ants collect carrion and insect carcasses, and will feed on a variety of different trash items also.


The winged, reproductive form of the pavement ant.

Comments

[phlogiston-5.livejournal.com]

Nice shot of the winged ant. Did you manage to get ahold of E.O. Wilson for this entry or did you brave the ant identification yourself? ;)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I went out on a limb, Wilsonless! :)

[derekdicaprio.livejournal.com]

Fun Fact: The weight of all the ants in the world combined is approximately equal to the weight of all of the humans in the world combined.

FYI...

[pinkyloveshim.livejournal.com]

no way!

that is crazy.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

This is plausible, but it's hard to imagine how it was calculated. Where did you find this comparison?

the winged ants

[(Anonymous)]

I think the winged ant is acanthomyops interjectus, but I cannot be certain. It's definitely not a pavement ant (= tetramorium caespitum).