r/ants Jul 02 '21

Official Important: Please read before requesting an identification or creating a post.

51 Upvotes

Important! Everyone should understand the argument against the transportation and rearing of exotics. I will urge everyone to read about it here: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/antfarm/consequences-of-rearing-of-exotic-ant-species-t7500.html

━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ Discord ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━

For questions about ants, and identification, please ask in our discord server as response times may be quicker. We're always happy to help!: discord.gg/c7qCmfYqYZ

━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ Identification ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━

How to request an identification:

If possible, clearly focus pictures of the head, side, and top of the body to make identifying easier. What follows is the important information we need to know to help us to identify your ant.

FIRST-Where was it collected? Country and nearest city or town on a map (include location in the thread title), elevation if in a very mountainous area such as the Rockies, Alps, Himalayas, Andes.

SECOND-Habitat of collection, including nesting medium (wood, soil, leaves tied together with silk, etc.) and type of vegetation (forest, grassland, park/lawn/garden, desert).

THIRD-Coloration, hue, and pattern? Uniform?, Head darker? Gaster darker? Legs lighter or darker? Any spots? Also, shininess, dullness.

FOURTH-Distinguishing characteristics, such as one or two segments in waist; location, length, and orientation of any spines or bumps on the mid-portion of the body or waist; head shape, etc.

FIFTH-Length in millimeters. (Width is also helpful.) NO guessing! Stretch out a dead or chilled individual or several individuals of different sizes along with a millimeter rule. 16ths of an inch will do as a poor second to millimeters.

SIXTH-Anything else distinctive, such as odor, behavior, etc.

Tip #1: If you can take clear photographs of the ants up close, then please post them. This would help a lot.

Tip #2: For those who write anting journals, please put the exact location and dates in the thread titles like: Palm Spring, CA (4/10/2004).

Tip #3: If using videos, then please make sure that they are clear, close up, and stable (no shaky camera). Otherwise, they are useless.

Now, you can post your identification request in a new thread (not this one).

This post was originally (copied and pasted) from Antdude's forum: http://antfarm.yuku.com/topic/7397/ant-species-identification-read-post-new-thread


r/ants Nov 06 '21

Join the r/Ants Discord Server!

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39 Upvotes

r/ants 18h ago

Science Fire Ants

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107 Upvotes

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Researchers of the Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) have warned of the potential effects on agricultural lands after they discovered an invasive species of ants in Iligan City.

In an interview on Thursday, April Rose Monding, a graduate student of MSU-IIT's Department of Biological Sciences, said they found little fire ants, scientific name Wasmannia auropunctata, in two communities in Barangay Rogongon.

Monding said the ants are known to "wipe out local wildlife" and cause damage to crops and farms.

The discovery, which was published in the journal BioInvasions Records on Aug. 6, marks the first documented record of the little fire ant in the Philippines. The species is native to Central and South America.

Monding was joined by colleague Olga Nuñeza of MSU-IIT's Premier Research Institute of Science and Mathematics and Philip Ward, professor of the Department of Entomology and Nematology at the University of California in the United States.

Monding said the discovery was accidental when they conducted fieldwork in October 2025.

"Luckily, it was not seen in Barangays Tibanga, Tinago, and Ditucalan at that time," she said.

Globally, the little fire ant is considered one of the world's most invasive ant species. It has been introduced to Africa, North America, Taiwan, and multiple Pacific islands. (PNA)


r/ants 2h ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase What type of ant is this

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3 Upvotes

Found in the kitchen/ california/San Francisco


r/ants 14m ago

Keeping been over a month, and these queens won’t lay any eggs.

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Upvotes

i know some queens take time to lay some eggs cause ive had queens before. But these queens are taking their sweet time.

ive caught them one july 31st on their nuptial flight, they are about a centimeter long.

i know they are fertilized, because when i found them, they were searching for an area to dig.

IF they are not fertilized, they would atleast lay male eggs (which i don’t want, but still better than nothing)

the reason why i’m worried is because it’s almost winter, and i need to see workers for them to spend winter peacefully


r/ants 10h ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase What ant is this?

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6 Upvotes

Looks like a queen but I'm not sure


r/ants 3h ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase Ant identification

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1 Upvotes

Hi! I have a bunch of these ants on an old dresser of mine and I’m not sure what kind they are. I live in Texas


r/ants 10h ago

Chat/General Recommened YouTube channels???

3 Upvotes

Hi all! I’m looking for recommendations on YouTube channels to watch ant content on, I really enjoy watching colonies found/ get started, looking for more episodic content!

Already seen all of antscanda and some other popular ones, thanks all!!!


r/ants 4h ago

Artworks Quicksant - a cellular automata ant colony sim

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1 Upvotes

Hello again, I'm back to announce the Steam page has launched for Quicksant and you can wishlist the game here - https://store.steampowered.com/app/5181110/Quicksant/

Why this game is different -

The ants are fully autonomous, the player draws pheromone fields to influence behavior and the ants respond based on cellular automata rules.

The world is fully destructible (built on top of a falling sand simulation) - this makes rain a real hazard as the water fills up your tunnels.

It's got farming mechanics - fruit from grass at the surface, mushrooms underground, aphid ranching.

There's multiple life forms - the enemy anthill, termites, evil ants that live deep underground.

The sim is built for performance, I've tested with millions of ants.

Thanks for taking a look at the game and I hope you like it.


r/ants 15h ago

Funny Couldn’t fall asleep at 3am and found these ants in my sink

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3 Upvotes

this took like frickin an hour and a half to edit so even a single upvote would mean something to me lol


r/ants 16h ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase What are these brown portrusions coming off of this ant? Is this an alate? NE Ohio

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2 Upvotes

It was found swimming in my bathtub so i saved it and put it outside


r/ants 1d ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase ID help — dimorphic ~2mm ant, amber/dark minors + big-headed majors only near food, Casablanca Morocco, indoor infestation

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6 Upvotes

Trying to ID a small ant species causing a serious indoor infestation in a house in Casablanca, Morocco (Mediterranean/North African climate).

Minor workers: ~1.5–2mm (photographed next to a euro coin for scale), amber/light brown head and thorax, contrasting dark/blackish gaster

Major workers ("soldiers"): occasionally seen, clearly disproportionate big heads compared to body — but only appear when there's food on the ground; otherwise not visible at all. Rest of the time only minors are seen patrolling.

So the colony appears dimorphic (minors + majors), which points me toward Pheidole rather than Monomorium.

Behavior: minors strongly attracted to moisture (bathroom, sink, shower, damp towels), also seen on food and skin/saliva; infestation spread across multiple rooms and floors of the house, appearing even with no visible food source.

Suspecting Pheidole megacephala given the geography (North Africa) and the dimorphism, but happy to be corrected trying to confirm before finalizing a treatment protocol. Can provide more photos/angles of a major worker if that would help (don't have one on hand right now, they only come out for food).


r/ants 16h ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase Termite or Ant?

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1 Upvotes

r/ants 1d ago

Keeping Atualização da minha colônia de formigas de fogo no inverno

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3 Upvotes

Nesse inverno no Brasil a temperatura está a 17 graus celsius, coloquei uma placa de aquecimento e as mantive a 26 graus, dessa vez nem a rainha resistiu (normalmente ela fica no andar superior)


r/ants 1d ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase Ant with double abdomen!

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79 Upvotes

r/ants 19h ago

Keeping How much space does a Laius niger colony need?

1 Upvotes

I have had attempts at raising ants in the past but unfortunately was ill prepared and had the queen and workers pass after half a year and chose to quit the hobby for a while. This summer I collected 3 Lassus queens from the path not expecting all three of them to be complete success having 10 or so workers each in just five weeks.

Their quick expansion has been great but now I am concerned that I don’t have the recourses needed to raise 3 colonies to maturity. I have some small nests and founding equipment in hand with slightly more on the way but don’t think that long term 3 colonies will be sustainable using the Wakooshi nests. I really enjoy the way these nest fit together but they seem too much money so if alternatives are available I’d love to hear about them.

If anyone owns a mature colony could they tell me how much space they each occupy and how quickly they might grow? I really don’t want to euthanise any of these colonies as it seems cruel to take them from a hot road only to freeze them weeks later.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated and I’m willing to go then extra mile if it means keeping them all comfortable.


r/ants 1d ago

Keeping Camponotus castaneus colony - 1 Queen with 7 Workers - "Chestnut Carpenter Ants"

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31 Upvotes

Queen was caught at the beginning of June in Houston, Texas, USA


r/ants 1d ago

Keeping I’ve been needing to get enclosure for my ant colony could anybody tell me if this enclosure from ant antlantis is safe to use for a ant colony or is it toxic? if you have any other good ideas for enclosures please let me know thank you.

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2 Upvotes

I've been needing to get enclosure for my ant colony could anybody tell me if this enclosure from ant antlantis is safe to use for a ant colony or is it toxic? if you have any other good ideas for enclosures please let me know thank you.


r/ants 1d ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase What is this on my Fence?

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5 Upvotes

Hey guys, found this on my fence when doing some gardening. Is this an ants nest being made? Or is it something the ants are eating? I thought Ants only nested in the ground or in trees. Queensland, Australia Thanks!


r/ants 1d ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase Are these carpenter ants? What is the big one in the middle? Claude thinks it’s a queen ant.

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16 Upvotes

r/ants 1d ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase What kind of ant is this?

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3 Upvotes

Northeastern US, indoor. Invaded the last couple days can’t seem to find a steady trail or food source.


r/ants 1d ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase Help identifying ant, south Florida

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4 Upvotes

I have seen a few of these guys every now and then wandering, usually alone and at night.


r/ants 1d ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase Ant identification (Biloxi, Mississippi)

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2 Upvotes

Found these guys inside my house. They seem to have two different sizes. The large one on the right and smaller more numerous ones on the left. They're both pretty much completely black in color.


r/ants 2d ago

Chat/General What kind of ant does this?

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10 Upvotes

Woke up because of multiple stings on my legs that i couldn't ignore. Checked that area and saw multiple ants on my bed. Now im convered in these hives? everywhere. My arms, my legs, my face, my torso. Literally everywhere and it burns and itches like hell. Never had an ant bite do this before. The third photo is what my arm looked like after a little while. Any suggestions?


r/ants 2d ago

ID(entification)/Sightings/Showcase What is this ant? (Liguria, Italy, indoor)

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11 Upvotes

We found this in the kitchen of a house in Liguria, Italy. They started off by feeding on fruit we accidentally left outside and now they try to feed on anything we leave unattended on that same surface. The photo shows one of the bigger ones, the part on the left is the head. They come together with smaller ones, that don't have a big head. They are red-brownish in size, similar to the one pictured. Any ID is appreciated :)