Harvester Ants by Ken _Gilliland

Poser • Animals • posted on Sep 21, 2017

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Description

My ant project wouldn't be complete without Harvester Ants. That's the ant that is king of our garden. Our colonies are so prolific, in fact, that the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History collects Harvesters from our yard 4-5 times a year for their exhibits. The Harvester sting is one of the more painful stings an ant can do... 3 out of 4 on the Schmidt pain index. A bee sting is a solid "2" while a Fire ant is a 1.3. The most painful insect to be stung/bitten by in the world is a Bullet ant... 4+ out of 4. There are hundreds of different ‘harvester ant’ species found world wide. These ants use their large mandibles to grind seeds into a bread-like substance which is placed in storage areas called ‘granaries‘ in their nest. This provides year round food for them. Harvester ant workers can be found collecting seeds as far as 50-60 Km from their nest, they use their chemical scent trails to navigate back to the nest. A few horned lizard species feed almost exclusively on harvester ants. They have adapted ways to survive the ants stings and attacks. In some areas, Argentine ants have displaced Harvester ants causing the horned lizards to become an endangered species. Harvester ants are polymorphic with both major and minor workers. They are typically 0.2-0.28 inches (5-7 mm) in length and are red to orange in color. Some workers are known to lay unfertilized eggs that are fed to the larvae and queen. They typically live for a few months. Rendered in Firefly with no postwork. Everything rendered is mine. The ground texture and rear plant are from my Sagebrush Habitat set and the harvester ants and anthill are from my Ant Lines set.