Ants

[steev]

It's the dry season in the Bay Area, so the triple-damned, aphid-farming Argentine ants are looking for water; I think they are closely related to dogs, judging from where they seek it. I may have posted it before, but they, like all other ants, fight with other colonies and species; except in Cali, where Argentine ants have apparently achieved species-compatibility, so that they are a mostly state-wide super-colony, fighting only with other, native ant species. This is an interesting development, but I'm glad they've not entered my valley, where the indigenous species are not a problem to me.

[shoshannah]

Out of control ants could be another disaster epic, Irwin Allen style. On their way out of Argentina they get crossed with army ants

and start to march towards Steev's plantation and he declares all out war complete with headband to keep hair in place.  Will be watching for the trailer.

On a more serious note, I've read that they are devastating the horned lizard population in Calif. That's sad because they are such cute little lizards.

They are also killing the ladybugs.  Let's hope they end up lower on the food chain. 
 

[steev]

Interesting enough, walking from the south ten last Sunday, I saw a trail of ants, reddish, going east; I think I've not seen those before; I've no idea what that's about.

[farmermike]

When I was a kid I loved the idea of keeping an ant farm. I tried it a couple of times. Big ants are not too common where I live, so I sent away for a vial of big red ants. Both times, as soon as my ants started to settle in, Argentine ants invaded, killed every one, and left (they can fit right through the air holes of the ant farm). They also regularly took up residence in the soil of our potted house plants during the winter.

Supposedly, three of the world's largest super-colonies -- from the Mediterranean coast of Europe, the west coast of Japan, and the California coast -- are all so closely related that the they won't fight each other. Global Mega-Colony!

Seems like this extraordinarily invasive species is here to stay. How long does an introduced species need to reside in an area before it is considered native? 100s of years....1000s?

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Aug 30, 2016 23:26:16 GMT -5 farmermike said:

How long does an introduced species need to reside in an area before it is considered native? 100s of years....1000s?

In my world view, a plant becomes native as soon as it starts reproducing in the wildlands in a new location. I can't go out into the wildlands and discern whether a species has been growing there for a year or for 100,000 years. So I just call all plants native once they start growing in the wildlands.

[reed]

Giant fuzzy ants, big ants, medium sized ants, little ants, really little teeny weenie ants, red ants, black ants, ants with pointy butts, ants with round butts, ants that bite, ants that don't bite, ants that smell weird, ants in the mail box, ants in the pantry, ants on the bathroom sink. We have plenty of ants.

[diane]

Ants are valued in Australia. I saw signs along sidewalks asking people to be careful not to step on any.

[shoshannah]

Australia is a fun place to visit.  My daughter lived there so I got to visit.  I used to put my seashells outside for the green ants to clean them up.

Green ants up north are tucker food.

[steev]

Having chowed on honey-pot ants in Oakland, I'm not sure about Strines eating ants; not rejecting; just don't know about that. Not really used to insects as food, yet. Always game to broaden my horizons, innit?

[khoomeizhi]

back in my collegiate taxonomy days i spent a good part of a couple years sucking ants up with an aspirator - and huffing their pheromones, there are definitely some very different flavors. a lot of sour/acidic ones from formic acid (including Acanthomyops - fat little subterranean ants that taste of citronella), some with less recognizable chemical signatures. central american army ants are acrid and foul - the only ones like that i've tasted.

[steev]

When I went to Mexico in 1971 ( yes, there was a Mexico that long ago; maybe even then some) we got to Olmec country; going to an Olmec sculpture "park", I saw a file of leaf-cutter ants carrying leaf-pieces; following them, I saw they were going into a burrow; on the far side of the burrow was a large frog which was lapping up ~every tenth ant; entree and salad combined, I suppose. Don't know that frogs have much use for vegetables; seems unlikely. I can only suppose the frog knew what it was about; seemed a pretty good strategy for getting chow, if the by-catch didn't cause blockage, to which amphibians aren't notably subject.

[richardw]

Aug 31, 2016 12:41:27 GMT -5 shoshannah said:

Australia is a fun place to visit.  My daughter lived there so I got to visit.  I used to put my seashells outside for the green ants to clean them up.

Green ants up north are tucker food.

I have some painful memories of those man eating Australian bull ants, oz is no place for a bare footed hippy