Got this cool ant photo

[Pareeeee]

He looked right at the camera!

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a368/Pareeeee/ant.jpg

[marvelfreak]

Cool! Are those fire ants?

[alessia55]

Wow, that's a really awesome photo!! :cool:

[Pareeeee]

Actually I'm not sure on this one. It could be, there have been a few reported cases of fire ants in Canada, but I'm still skeptical. The head looks right though...still researching! Will let you know what I find.

[Dehlida]

Myrmica ruba

Fire ants don't get that far north and can't survive there.

[Soltarianknight]

Could be a Solenopsis molesta

[GarterPython]

I would agree with Dehlida. Look at this picture. It is almost exactly the same.

[Dehlida]

Could be a Solenopsis molesta

The ant pictured in the photo is not light enough or small enough to be S. molesta. I used to keep several ant colonies, this species included. It's M. rubra.

[Pareeeee]

I also agree that it's the Myrmica rubra (European Fire Ant). The head shape is practically identical.

I went through my "rejected photos" of the same ant colony and found a few pics from the top and side of the ants. Note the abdominal segments.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a368/Pareeeee/4-4.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a368/Pareeeee/3-5.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a368/Pareeeee/2-6.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a368/Pareeeee/1-5.jpg

And a photo I found online of Myrmica rubra: http://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/168831.jpg

This is fun! I should post more bug ID pics...

[Pareeeee]

Interesting - the European Fire Ant is an invasive species. They are very aggressive and sting readily (I was very careful not to get any on me!). There can be up to 100 queens per colony and they can each live to be 15 years old!!! Their diet apparently consists of aphid honeydew.

[Dehlida]

I didn't even have to key this species out, it was pretty obvious to the ID just based on the location and pictures alone, and knowing about what lives in that demographic that looks like that.

M. rubra is invasive yes. It actually isn't that aggressive at all, at least it never was in my care compared with many of the species of Formica and Pogonomyrmex I kept. Generally each colony will only have 1 queen; however, sometimes you get 3-5, 100 is extremely uncommon and probably a myth. Each queen is more likely to live 5 or so years.

[Pareeeee]

Note on pg 2 of "Apiculture and Social Insects: Distribution of an Invasive Ant, Myrmica rubra (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Maine"

PDF: http://entomofaune.qc.ca/entomofaune/fourmis/Fourmis-Publications/Myrmica%20rubra-Maine.pdf

"This aggressive ant readily stings"

There is an average of 15 queens per nest "with up to 670 observed in a single nest" (I was actually wrong by saying 100, there can actually be more...YIKES! No wonder they are so invasive with that many pregnant mommy ants...)

[Dehlida]

I kept this species and frequently spoke with keepers who did as well, and the books I read were ******** long, a lot of information you read online though is kinda garbage, just sayin.

[Pareeeee]

I don't know if you looked at that PDF or not, but it is a University-level paper from the dept. of biological sciences at the university of Maine. It wasn't Wikipedia if that's what you were thinking - I try to use sources that have a little more credibility than that. While I agree that there are a lot of garbage websites out there I believe that you can also find reliable sources as well, if you look for them. A lot of people think Wikipedia is the best source of information. I do think it's a helpful place to start, but leads should be followed and University and govt. funded sites should be consulted as well as many other sources, including books. That way you can come to a more accurate conclusion.

[Dehlida]

Even a lot of the Uni level PDF stuff was garbage.