Allegheny mound ant facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Allegheny mound ant |
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The Allegheny mound ant (Formica exsectoides) is a type of ant found in eastern North America. You can find them from Nova Scotia in Canada all the way down to parts of Georgia in the United States. These ants are famous for building very large dirt mounds, which are like their giant homes!
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The Allegheny Mound Ant
The Allegheny mound ant is a special kind of field ant. They are known for building some of the biggest ant mounds you can find. Besides their impressive homes, these ants can also cause problems by harming plants near their mounds.
What They Look Like
Allegheny mound ants have a very striking look. Their head and the middle part of their body (called the thorax) are a bright red-orange color. Their back part (called the gaster or abdomen) is black-brown. Like other ants in the Formica family, they can produce a special liquid called formic acid. This acid has a citrusy taste.
Their Amazing Homes
The homes of Allegheny mound ants are quite amazing and complex. They build large dirt mounds that can be up to 1 meter (about 3 feet) tall and 2 meters (about 6.5 feet) wide! These mounds are not just piles of dirt. They can have many tunnels that go deep into the ground, sometimes up to 3 feet (1 meter) down.
Several different mounds might even be connected underground, forming a huge ant city! The mound itself acts like a warm incubator for their eggs and young ants (larvae). This helps the baby ants grow faster. Unlike most other ants, Allegheny mound ants can have many queens living in one colony. It takes about 2.5 to 3 months for a baby ant to grow from an egg to a full-grown adult.
What They Eat
Allegheny mound ants are good hunters. They eat many different kinds of arthropods (like insects and spiders) to get protein. They also collect a sweet liquid called honeydew from tiny insects called aphids. This honeydew gives them the sugars they need for energy.
How They Protect Their Home
These ants are very aggressive. If you disturb their mound, they will bite to defend their home and colony.
Impact on Plants
Allegheny mound ants are known to harm plants around their mounds. They inject formic acid into nearby plants, which can kill small trees and shrubs. This creates clear areas around their mounds where no live trees or bushes grow. The ants can kill plants up to 40 to 50 feet (12 to 15 meters) away from their mounds.
Images for kids
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dorsal view
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lateral view
See also
In Spanish: Formica exsectoides para niños
