As long as you haven't heard anything lately about any snakes rolling like hoops or two-headed calves I think we're okay.
Nigel Elliott
· 1 year ago
Are you sure they are ants? Look like Hillbots to me! :-)
tlsintx
· 1 year ago
not sure, John. might be the preliminaries to getting it on... they look kind of long for ants...
red_dwarf
· 1 year ago
tls - that was my first thought. Are they ants? I guess they are if thats what John said, he was right on top of 'em. Maybe Nigel is correct, they're six legged hillbots - getting ready for the big party Tues night.
Õ¿Õ
· 1 year ago
It's chemical signatures they're laying out. They're about ready for the queens to emerge.
Patriot
· 1 year ago
Ants definitely lay down chemical signatures. Although, I can't remember if it is just to mark a path back to the nest or for other reasons. Does it take pairing for them to do this, I wonder?
Õ¿Õ
· 1 year ago
Well, this time of year in his area, that's when it would happen. They're preparing for something. The one ant head butting is leading the other that's laying down a path of ant hormones.
RenoAnne
· 1 year ago
June when I notice the most queens emerging with Pride and all.
Paul_In_SF
· 1 year ago
The queens emerged in my neighborhood years ago.
tbhull
· 1 year ago
I do not know what is up with the ants, but I do know how to get them out of the garden. The Starbucks in town will give away 10 lbs bags of used coffee grinds. The coffee grinds are high in nitrogen, great for the garden and an absolute ant repellant.
Patriot
· 1 year ago
Seriously? You are not the first person to have suggested this and my interest is now piqued as I am in the green industry and a gardener.
tbhull
· 1 year ago
Serous. I probably have spread at least 10 10 lb bags over my veggie and flower garden. The ants have disappeared. I do not know what it is, the smell, texture or or something else, but the ants are gone and the green growth is fantastic.
Õ¿Õ
· 1 year ago
I collect about 3 gallons of coffee grinds from work each week that I compost with the paper filters in my container gardening. It's pure organic gold.
Õ¿Õ
· 1 year ago
A friend of mine, Freddie, came over the other day and said, "You can't have the filters in there because it will rot." I was like, Freddie, that's what compost is. The paper is fiber. And it doesn't contain any heavy metals so it's fine. He recycles his coffee grinds by letting them dry butthat's stupid.
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Such a dirty, dirty, dirty mind. You have a preoccupation. <g> Plus, worker ants are all of one sex. <g>
AngelaChanning
· 1 year ago
I have never seen ants in pairs like that but I know I get ant invasions after a good rain. I wonder if it is a mating ritual? Or am I projecting? LOL.
scottinsf
· 1 year ago
The water is flushing them out from underground.
Apphouse50
· 1 year ago
I'm thinking of several elderly Asian couples in our town who, as they take their strolls through the town, do so with the hubby in front and the wife walking behind every single time. Could these be aging Asian ants?
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
I feel itchy.
BlazingDragon
· 1 year ago
Everyone here realizes there is no "getting it on" in the ant world as all the ants that one normally sees outside the nest are female? The males (the ones we see with wings) live just long enough to be life-time sperm donors for the queens (who also have wings when they are done with their pupal stage). The queens find a suitable site, land, chew off their wings, dig a small nest, and begin laying eggs to start a new ant colony.
This probably has something to do with following a scent trail (how ants communicate and let other ants know where to go to get food, water, etc.), but I'm not sure why they are following so closely.
red_dwarf
· 1 year ago
glasses_guy may be on to something - ants lay down pheromones - which they trail - if you see a line of ants traveling and you take your finger and wipe the surface along the line the ones on the down trail side willl start running around in circles, etc, until the pheromone trace is re-established.
Interesting find John. Quite a puzzle. I love stuff like this in nature when you haven't a clue what the heck is going on. Someone needs to get a hold of entomologist and see what they say - I'd be interested in knowing why they do this. I'll try and track one down on the net and fire an email off.
JamesR
· 1 year ago
I just saw a really good Nova documentary called "Lord of the Ants" profiling an entomologist who has specialized in ants and who has discovered hundreds of species, etc. Really interesting, if you've already gone to the trouble of videoing and posting some.. (!) It can be seen online here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/eowilson/program.html
- He discovered the fact they produce scent trails to follow each other, which is what those ants in the video are doing. And of course what they are exactly doing depends on their species, and that depends where your orchids are from and who lives near you, etc. There are thousands of possibilities. They look like some of the ants we have down here in Florida, and as many orchids are grown in Florida you could have some migrant antworkers there. To identify them you need to take a really really close look at them, which means catching them, and, er, they bite. (If you are that curious.)
slw0606
· 1 year ago
Buggery?
Sorry - I could not help myself and the double meaning is cute, is it not?
jr
· 1 year ago
there was a wasp in my room 2 weeks ago. All the insects need to die
NeuroDoc
· 1 year ago
I used to collect ants, and spent a fair amount of time speciating them and observing their behavior. Ants follow a scented trail. I suspect what you are seeing is the same tendency to bunch up that is seen in automobiles traveling on a one-lane highway with no passing. Faster ants will bump up against slower ants, and have no way to pass. Occasionally you see longer trains of ants. But when a trail is very mature, it tends to get broader, and there is then a possibility for passing. I think you are seeing the early formation of trails, none of which are very mature, so its all single file lanes out there before they coalesce into a broader highway. Look at how several of the trails seem to parallel, but aren't too far separated from one another. Watch this over time, and you'll eventually see a superhighway...unless you step on 'em.
Common in Southern Florida now and a common housepest. They can nest in houseplants... [Greenhouses.] It is a possibililty for you. Their description says they do not have a sting nor bite. You will have to find that out for yourself. Part of the scientific process. The body size and proportion is right but the key is getting a good magnifying glass and looking at their feet.
You may have those, or a zillion other similar species. Understanding them is like reading half of a poem, but they are very fun to watch.
You've discovered a new breed of ants here in the US, which were recently introduced from Thailand by accident. They're commonly called Siamese ants because of their tendency to travel in pairs connected head to tail as it were.
These ants have American scientists quite interested in studying their genome, to determine the proportion of genetic variance explained by shared genes (ie, pleiotropy) with the broad-ranging American Solenopsis molesta.
[I really haven't a clue, but was trying to make it sound good.]
aquarius2
· 1 year ago
It impressed me!
John Aravosis
· 1 year ago
Ok that makes sense because I've never seen this before in my life.
Paul_In_SF
· 1 year ago
If you listen very closely you can hear the front ant say "I am the nominee, I have the most delegates", while the ant behind keeps shouting "Big hives don't count, and I poll better with the worker ants!"
JamesR
· 1 year ago
This is really fascinating, thanks jcgraham77 - I found http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060111_a... by Googling the researchers form your article post (" Nigel Franks and Tom Richardson ants pairs "). The phenomenon that is the subject of the article and likely this post is called "tandem running"
Who Knew?
Though article is about the Temnothorax Genus, an English ant, Technomyrmex lbipes (the White footed ant) is still a possible genus / species of the video. It is obviously a multi-species ant bahavio(u)r.
Evolution or Intelligent Design, Nature is still so much smarter than we are.
"American Solenopsis molesta" LOL
red_dwarf
· 1 year ago
JamesR - great link. That was my first thought when I viewed the video, that the ant following the other ant was perhaps "just out" of the nest and the front ant was teaching it how to follow a scent trail. But I didn't put that in my comment, it was just a passing thought. Turns out it looks like that is what may be going on. Thanks for the link.
JamesR
· 1 year ago
Thanks, though I got that by following jcgraham77 - he / she found the concept first. I was Tandem Running out of sequence! (Look back three posts.)
tardigrade
· 1 year ago
Do you think you could capture one and take a picture of it? Keys are best used when you can see physical attributes. The head and where the eye is to the antenna, also the area between the abdomen and the thorax is important to identification. How fun!
Bubbles
· 1 year ago
Never leave your wing-man.
The first thing they tell airforce pilots. I believe that all started when Japan had better fighter aircraft at the beginning of World War II then we did. So if some one attacked you, you had support with you to attack him. The system worked reasonably well and helped neutralize Japan's early advantage.
Here, maybe nature has adopted the same strategy.
DavidinChelseaMA
· 1 year ago
That's one ant being followed by THE EXACT SAME ANT. It happens when there's a glitch in the Matrix.
Eclectablog
· 1 year ago
Yeah, glitch in the Matrix. Of course! *slaps forehead*
(Thanks for the giggle)
John Aravosis
· 1 year ago
Ok that was good.
Cpeterka
· 1 year ago
Just mix up a 5% solution of 20 Mule Team Borax (in the laundry section) and honey. They love it, take it home to mommy, and .... poof, no more ants.
Milli
· 1 year ago
OMG. Its Scott McClellan trying to outrun Dick Cheney.......
mirth
· 1 year ago
I've never seen that ant behavior, but here's a tip:
A very thin line of boric acid (powder form; very cheap; any hardware or garden supply store) along the base of the patio door wall is an effective way to keep the ants out of your apartment. Likewise, a barrier of this around the perimeter of a house will keep them outside.
scottinsf
· 1 year ago
Ants >>>Adam And The Ants>>>Bow Wow Wow>>>I Want Candy>>>Bo Diddley beat>>>Bo Diddley died today. Therefore, the topic of ants today is sad.
All Comments
they look kind of long for ants...
This probably has something to do with following a scent trail (how ants communicate and let other ants know where to go to get food, water, etc.), but I'm not sure why they are following so closely.
Interesting find John. Quite a puzzle. I love stuff like this in nature when you haven't a clue what the heck is going on. Someone needs to get a hold of entomologist and see what they say - I'd be interested in knowing why they do this. I'll try and track one down on the net and fire an email off.
- He discovered the fact they produce scent trails to follow each other, which is what those ants in the video are doing. And of course what they are exactly doing depends on their species, and that depends where your orchids are from and who lives near you, etc. There are thousands of possibilities. They look like some of the ants we have down here in Florida, and as many orchids are grown in Florida you could have some migrant antworkers there. To identify them you need to take a really really close look at them, which means catching them, and, er, they bite. (If you are that curious.)
Sorry - I could not help myself and the double meaning is cute, is it not?
Common in Southern Florida now and a common housepest. They can nest in houseplants... [Greenhouses.] It is a possibililty for you. Their description says they do not have a sting nor bite. You will have to find that out for yourself. Part of the scientific process. The body size and proportion is right but the key is getting a good magnifying glass and looking at their feet.
You may have those, or a zillion other similar species. Understanding them is like reading half of a poem, but they are very fun to watch.
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:4kRAGZjMQ3...
These ants have American scientists quite interested in studying their genome, to determine the proportion of genetic variance explained by shared genes (ie, pleiotropy) with the broad-ranging American Solenopsis molesta.
[I really haven't a clue, but was trying to make it sound good.]
Who Knew?
Though article is about the Temnothorax Genus, an English ant, Technomyrmex lbipes (the White footed ant) is still a possible genus / species of the video. It is obviously a multi-species ant bahavio(u)r.
Evolution or Intelligent Design, Nature is still so much smarter than we are.
"American Solenopsis molesta" LOL
The first thing they tell airforce pilots. I believe that all started when Japan had better fighter aircraft at the beginning of World War II then we did. So if some one attacked you, you had support with you to attack him. The system worked reasonably well and helped neutralize Japan's early advantage.
Here, maybe nature has adopted the same strategy.
(Thanks for the giggle)
They love it, take it home to mommy, and .... poof, no more ants.
A very thin line of boric acid (powder form; very cheap; any hardware or garden supply store) along the base of the patio door wall is an effective way to keep the ants out of your apartment. Likewise, a barrier of this around the perimeter of a house will keep them outside.