BlackGardenAnt

Black Garden Ant

This photo was taken September 30th at Ames High Praire by Hayley Crum

The Black Garden Ant has six legs, is blackish-brownish-red, and is covered in little tiny hairs. Was crawling around different leaves in a big pack.

This ant will nest in different soils, lawns, at the base of walls, or under stones, etc.

You can find this type of ant all over Europe, North America, and in some parts of Asia as well. In North America these ants are usually here during autumn, and in Europe these ants are usually their during the summer months of July and August.

This ant lives in a colony where they have one single queen. Most are workers without wings but in July and August winged females and males emerge in flight for mating. Once they mate males die and females shed there wings and they look for sites to nest.

These eats feast on pretty much anything, especially if its sweet. They feast on things like aphids for honeydew, fruits, insects and spiders along with other invertebrates.

If you go to this link- http://www.gardensafari.net/english/ants.htm you will see that a close species to the Garden Ant is called the Red Wood Ant. Both these ants are found in many European gardens and have some of the same traits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_garden_ant gives you information about the characteristics and where to find them

http://www.powerset.com/explore/go/Black-garden-ant -tells you more info about what it eats and characteristics.