Western black carpenter ant
Camponotus modoc
Nearby recordBlack body; dark reddish legs.
Alex Wild · CC0 · Lake Tahoe
Ants of the Mount Shasta region & beyond
Small
Republics
The hidden lives of ants
Greg Chism · Audubon Society
Alex Wild · CC0
What is this
ant doing?
Take ten seconds.
What would you watch next?
Jonghyun Park / iNaturalist · CC BY · displayed crop
Our route: local ants → colony life → the web of life → extraordinary ants
“How do I get rid
of ants at home?”
Coexist outdoors.
Make indoors less inviting.
- Seal food. Wipe trails.
- Fix leaks. Repair entry points.
Hexafluoride · CC BY-SA 4.0 · behavior example
Eliminating every outdoor ant is unrealistic. For persistent indoor or structural problems, use targeted guidance.
UC IPM: ants at home
The question that usually comes first
“How do I get rid of ants at home?”
Coexist outdoors.
Make indoors less inviting.
- Seal food. Wipe up spills.
- Fix leaks. Remove water sources.
- Close the routes into your home.
Leafcutters can learn what to avoid
Up to
18 weeks
How long some colonies avoided a plant after fungicide-treated leaves harmed their fungus.
Saverschek et al. 2010 · Atta colombica, Panama
An ant-free landscape is unrealistic. Exclusion can work indoors. The leafcutter study shows lasting avoidance, not inherited memory or a household fungicide treatment.
Part 02 of 5
Ants of the
Mount Shasta region
Who lives here? How
do they make a living?
Mount Shasta & Lake Siskiyou · Radomianin · CC BY-SA 4.0
A mountain,
many ant neighborhoods
Forest floor.
Sunny openings.
Dry country to the north.
A regional ant field guide
Red-and-black carpenter ant
Camponotus vicinus
Nearby recordOften red and black; color varies.
© Alex Wild · Blodgett Forest, California
Odorous house ant
Tapinoma sessile
Regional candidateCoconut-like odor; often seeks sweets.
Judy Gallagher · CC BY 2.0 · Virginia
Winter ant / false honey ant
Prenolepis imparis
Nearby recordShiny brown; active in cool weather.
© Alex Wild · Champaign, Illinois
Western thatching ant
Formica obscuripes
Regional candidateBuilds with needles and twigs.
© Alex Wild · Wisconsin
Other field and wood ants
Formica species
Genus, not one speciesNests in soil; some build mounds.
Jonghyun Park · CC BY 4.0 · California · pictured: F. sibylla
Clues, not a species key. Nearby records and regional candidates are labeled separately. Photos are species examples.
A carpenter ant’s
working day
Camponotus modoc
- Excavate a wood nest.
- Hunt and scavenge insects.
- Collect honeydew.
Alex Wild · CC0
Nearby record: north of Castella · Feeding observations: western study · Wood is housing, not food.
Pine needles
become a nest
Some Formica
build thatch mounds.
© Alex Wild · used with permission
A western comparison. Regional F. sibylla also moves fallen needles; it is a different species.
Dalrymple & Safford 2019 · California study
Part 03 of 5
What is
an ant colony?
A society of ants that lives,
reproduces and works together.
Queen & workers · Camponotus mutilarius · wider-world example · Wikimedia Commons · public domain
Inside
the ant colony
How do thousands of ants
work together?
Watch how encounters
change what a worker does.
Open video ↗ · sound and captions
An ant, up close
AntennaeHead & jawsMesosomaWaistGasterSix legs
The mesosoma is the middle section; the gaster is the large rear section. Waist structure varies among ants.
Queen & workers
The queen lays eggs.
The workers coordinate
the work.
Wikimedia Commons · public domain · wider-world example
From egg
to adult
Egg → larva → pupa → adult
Workers tend the
growing generation.
Two kinds
of winged ant
A male alate.
A queen alate.
A wingless worker.
Wings alone do not
mean “male.”
© Alex Wild · used with permission
The work
of a colony
Care for the young
Feed, clean and move brood.
Lasius pallitarsis · Sierra Nevada
© Alex Wild · used with permission
Find food
Collect and carry food home.
Aphaenogaster fulva · Illinois
© Alex Wild · used with permission
Build and maintain
Move soil and keep a nest usable.
Dorymyrmex bureni · Florida
© Alex Wild · used with permission
Tasks can change as the colony’s needs change. A worker’s job is not always fixed for life.
Moving to
a new home
Scouts find a site.
Then they carry nestmates.
One worker walks.
The passenger curls up.
Stephen Pratt / Arizona State University
Open film ↗
After enough scouts gather at a candidate nest, they switch to carrying the colony’s less active members.
How many neighbors
make a decision?
A colony needs a new home.
Near / exposed: 0 · Far / sheltered: 0 · Searching
Toy model inspired by Temnothorax nest choice. Counts and thresholds are invented for teaching; not a local-species claim.
Part 04 of 5
Ants in the
web of life
Soil, seeds and birds
and the habitat they share.
Forest-floor habitat · Michigan · C. Boothman / USDA Forest Service · public domain
Soil comes to
the surface
A cone of excavated grains.
Different colors reveal layers.
© Alex Wild · used with permission
Rooms inside
a fallen log
Shelter can be built
within existing wood.
© Alex Wild · used with permission
A nest above
the ground
Carton hangs
from a tree branch.
© Alex Wild · used with permission
Small excavators,
lasting changes
These were empty spaces
beneath the soil.
Narrow shafts.
Broad chambers.
Different species, different plans.
A: Aphaenogaster floridana · B: Pheidole morrisi
C: Dorymyrmex bossutus · D: Aphaenogaster ashmeadi
Casts make the hollow architecture visible. Moving soil and concentrating food and waste can change local soil conditions; effects vary.
A seed with
a packed lunch
The seed travels.
The ants eat the oily reward.
© Alex Wild · used with permission
An observed example from eastern North America. Western trillium is a regional ant-dispersed plant; its local ant partners are not established here.
A seed with
a packed lunch
An oily attachment
can pay for a ride.
Western trillium is one regional plant example.
Diagram shows a general ant–seed interaction.
1 / 3 · Seed with an oily attachment
Two journeys. Different jobs.
A nectar visit can bring contact with pollen.
© Alex Wild · used with permission
Prenolepis imparis · Illinois
Western trillium’s seeds can travel with ants.
Walter Siegmund · CC BY-SA 3.0
Some ants pollinate. This photograph shows nectar gathering; it does not establish successful pollination. Ant seed dispersal and pollination are distinct services.
US Forest Service · Western trillium account, p. 113
Ants help spineflowers make seeds
Dorymyrmex insanus
© Alex Wild · Arizona, on a different flower
San Fernando Valley spineflower
N. Gale & A. Parikh / USFWS · public domainAnt access improved seed production and germination.
Jones et al. 2010 · Southern California study · Photos identify the partners; they do not show the experiment.
A walking pollinator for Cascade knotweed
Formica argentea
Eric Lamb · CC BY 4.0 · worker portrait
Cascade knotweed
Jeff Ward · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · flower detailField ants carry pollen between flowers.
Hickman 1974 · Oregon study · Species portraits, not a photograph of the interaction.
Three ants at smokebush flowers
Excluding ants reduced seed production.
Conospermum undulatum · South-western Australia
Delnevo et al. 2020 · Figure 1, details D–F · CC BY 4.0
Food. Shelter. Protection.
Cecropia grows food bodies.
Azteca alfari raises brood inside.
Workers restrain an intruder.
Tropical example · Gamboa, Panama · ants can defend their host plant.
Food bodies · Stem chambers · Guards in action · © Alex Wild, used with permission
For a flicker,
a colony is a meal
Northern Flickers often forage
for ants on the ground.
A flicker
at the ant buffet
Watch the bill
work across the ground.
Excerpt: 1:55–2:30 · sound and captions
Who else eats ants?
Pileated Woodpecker
Carpenter ants
inside wood.
Cephas · CC BY-SA 3.0 · species portrait
American black bear
Ants and brood
are part of an omnivore’s diet.
US Forest Service · public domain · species portrait
Colonies turn small insects into food for much larger neighbors.
Cornell Lab: woodpecker diet · Utah research: bears and ants
Habitat can vanish
at ground level
- Paving replaces living ground.
- Clearing removes shelter.
- Sprays can reach other insects.
C. Boothman / USDA Forest Service · public domain
A busy trail does not measure species diversity. A Tahoe study found different ant responses to development.
Manley et al. 2006 · Xerces habitat guidance
Knowing the species
changes the care
- Learn who lives here.
- Find out what they use.
- Protect it and check again.
Jonghyun Park / iNaturalist · CC BY · displayed crop
Photos, locality and repeated surveys help turn sightings into evidence. A name from an app remains provisional.
Tahoe biodiversity study · Habitat assessment
One patch can
support many lives
- Locally native plants.
- Flowers through the seasons.
- Some soil, stems and litter.
- Careful, targeted pest care.
Joanna Gilkeson / USFWS · public domain
Support a yard, school, park or shared garden. Match shelter choices to fire safety and building needs.
CNPS & Calscape: local plants · Xerces: habitat · UC IPM
Part 05 of 5
Extraordinary ants
& behaviors
Fungus farms, living tools
and chemical defenses.
Eciton burchellii bridge · captive colony, California Academy of Sciences · © Alex Wild · used with permission
Farming built
an underground world
~66 million years ago:
the estimated origin
of ant fungus farming.
A modern leafcutter nest:
shafts connect chambers.
Bollazzi, Forti & Roces 2012 · Figure 8
The cast reveals former empty space underground. It is a modern nest, not a 66-million-year-old fossil.
Farming’s evolutionary origin: Schultz et al. 2024 · asteroid connection: a proposed explanation
The leaves feed
the fungus
Watch the cargo.
Where is it going?
Leafcutters are a wider-world example.
This clip shows transport, not the underground garden.
Open the source video
Inside
the garden
Leaves are the growing medium.
The fungus is the crop.
Alex Wild · CC0
Same species.
Different bodies.
Small workers.
Big-headed majors.
One fire-ant colony.
© Alex Wild · live ants photographed together
Workers span a range of sizes. Large heads power seed-milling jaws.
Which head fits the job?
Choose a job, then a head. Or flip a card to explore.
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0 of 3 matched · No job selected.
Living ants · photos and a film on reverse · photographs © Alex Wild · wider-world examples
A living pantry
Some workers store liquid food
inside their expanded bodies.
Living ladders
Workers link their bodies.
Other ants cross the gap.
A structure made
of the workers themselves.
© Alex Wild · used with permission
Living bridge photographed in a captive colony. The research film shows a different structure: a scaffold on a slope.
Living ladders
Some ants become
the structure.
Watch the lower panel.
Which ants stop moving?
Lutz, Reid, Garnier & Couzin / University of Konstanz
Researchers call these “scaffolds.” Stationary ants provide footholds on a slope. A wider-world example.
Smell can recruit
a defense
In Camponotus modoc,
alarm chemistry can
bring nestmates closer.
Alex Wild · CC0
Formic acid is part of the chemical toolkit of carpenter ants and Formica. This portrait does not show spraying.
Renyard et al. 2020
Ants also
make vibrations
A tiny body movement.
A signal through the surface.
Watch the abdomen.
Listen to the vibration.
Different from Camponotus modoc.
Masoni et al. 2021 · Supplementary Video S1 · CC BY 4.0
17 seconds · laboratory recording
Laser-vibrometer recording of a worker feeding on honey water.
A border can become a battlefield
Colony against colony. Real jaws. Real losses.
Calistemon · CC BY-SA 4.0
Chetvorno · CC0
Separate battles. Field accounts also describe lines of dead carpenter ants left along a battlefront.
A conflict
in motion
Watch the gripping jaws
and pulling bodies.
Separate observation; species and location are not assigned here.
An intruder
sprays the queen
Watch the dark queen
approach the brown queen.
Look for the quick curl
of her abdomen.
Taku Shimada / AntRoom · original observer footage
Open film ↗
Captive-colony observations behind Shimada, Tanaka & Takasuka (2025). The spray’s chemical identity remains to be tested.
Her workers
attack her
The colony’s own queen
becomes a target.
Watch the small workers
around the brown queen.
Taku Shimada / AntRoom · original observer footage
Open film ↗
Captive-colony observations behind Shimada, Tanaka & Takasuka (2025). The spray’s chemical identity remains to be tested.
A colony
turned against
its own queen
An intruder sprays her.
Her workers attack.
Watch where the intruder
aims her abdomen.
Kyushu University · Shimada, Tanaka & Takasuka, 2025
Open film ↗
Filmed in captive colonies. Formic acid is the proposed agent; its identity and exact effects remain to be tested.
Southeast Asia · Colobopsis explodens
A defense that
costs a life
A rupturing worker releases
a sticky yellow secretion.
The yellow material
sticks the ants together.
All four ants died after this encounter. The secretion is expelled by rupture of the workers’ enlarged gland reservoirs.
A sticky
last defense
The worker ruptures.
The secretion entangles an opponent.
Daily Mail · research press film ↗
Optional for questions · 2:47 plus possible ads
Small ants.
A larger web of life.
Soil. Seeds. Birds.
Keep room for the neighbors
that connect them.
Jonghyun Park / iNaturalist · CC BY · displayed crop
Questions
& ant stories
15 minutes
What would you like to know
about these neighbors?
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