Aphid Farming?? - Camponotus floridanus

Moved

… John R. Maxwell, 16 June, 2009 - 10:01pm

Moved

Moved from Ants.

… George Waldren, 25 June, 2007 - 4:26pm

Camponotus sp. - floridanus group

This ID holds only for the first three pictures from the left, the yellowish ants with green aphids. The big-headed, agressive worker is no true "soldier", because all intermediate in size exist in the worker caste of this genus. On the other hand, big individual actually tend to be more "warlike" than small ones. It can be noticed that this one has lost the apical part of its left antenna, probably in a fight with an ant of another colony.
Despite the fondness of these ants for honeydew (indeed, Australians call them "sugar ants" instead of "carpenter ants"), speaking of "aphid farming" is somewhat excessive, because Camponotus ants merely collect the honeydew produced by the aphid colonies they randomly find on various plants. True, by chasing away any intruder as you stated, they indirectly protect aphids from some predators. But some other, more evolved ant genera do much more for their "honeydew cows".

… Richard Vernier, 27 April, 2005 - 11:07am

Excellent! Thank you for the

Excellent! Thank you for the information, I am curious just to see how many types I have just in my back yard, I think I have seen about three to four different types, but the smaller ones I just can't get a photo of because they are way to fast!! And I know that the ant all the way to the right is probably a different kind of ant, and they seem to be different kinds of aphids also. And I have noticed that the "aphid farm" is all gone and dried up now, nothing left on that plant except some Green Lysomannes to take photos of, so I guess I can't complain!

Thanks again!

Charles

… Charles Weber, 27 April, 2005 - 11:29pm