 The
Allegheny Mound Ant is in the family Formicidae. Members of this family, less than 1/16-1" (1-15 mm) long, are mostly black, brown, or reddish.
- They have a
complex social structure usually consisting of a wingless worker
caste composed entirely of sterile females and a reproductive caste
made up of winged, fertile males and females.
But some species do not have a worker caste, and some reproductives
do not have wings. Ants have a slender "waist," or
pedicel, of 1 or 2 beadlike or scale like segments between the thorax
and abdomen.
- They differ from
wasps in having distinctly elbowed antennae. Ants live in colonies
in underground tunnels or in galleries in dead wood. From time to
time, winged males and females emerge from the nest and perform a
brief mating flight.
After mating, the males die, and the females lose their wings and
return to the ground to start a new colony. Workers gather food,
maintain and defend the nest, and tend eggs, larvae, and pupae.
Most species are predators or scavengers, but a few harvest seeds,
visit clusters of aphids to eat their sweet secretions, raise fungus
for food in small underground gardens, or eat leaves cut from
plants.
- Some species produce
eggs, which are eaten by the queen and workers. When disturbed, most
ants are capable of "biting" or "stinging"
people.
- Warning These ants
have strong biting jaws, they also smear the bitten area with formic
acid which increases the degree of irritation they cause.
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