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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Ants (Formicoidea) » Ants (Formicidae) » Formicinae » Formicini » Wood ants, mound ants, & field ants (Formica) » fusca group (Formica fusca group) » Formica subsericea
Photo#359145
Black Formica Ants Tending Aphids - Formica subsericea
Copyright © 2009 Andrew Williams

Black Formica Ants Tending Aphids - Formica subsericea
Overland Park, Johnson County, Kansas, USA
August 3, 2009

Images of this individual: tag all
Black Formica Ants Tending Aphids - Formica subsericea Formica ant closeup - Formica subsericea
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Contributed by Andrew Williams on 17 December, 2009 - 11:34am
Last updated 17 October, 2010 - 10:40am

Moved
This one is by a considerable margin the most abundant and widely distributed black Formica east of the Rocky Mountains.
… James C. Trager, 17 October, 2010 - 10:40am login or register to post comments

Fusca group - workers
One of the all black species of this large group.
Quite similar to the "true" F. fusca at this magnification level - which is not enough to allow any specific ID, even for an experienced specialist. Anyway, F. fusca is primarily a forest species, rather unlikely to occur in Kansas.
… Richard Vernier, 19 December, 2009 - 6:18pm login or register to post comments

 
habitat
Found the ants in eastern KS hardwood/riparian habitat. Not sure if that helps any :-)
Thanks for the info.
… Andrew Williams, 19 December, 2009 - 7:45pm login or register to post comments

 
Cottonwood
Leaf appears to be cottonwood (Populus deltoides), which may assist in determining the aphid species.
… John Pearson, 20 December, 2009 - 2:39pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… Andrew Williams, 17 December, 2009 - 3:51pm login or register to post comments

Formica
These are Formica, similar to the ones I found. In your second pic you can see they have large compound eyes, which is just one of the key features that separate them from Camponotus

… Vespula Vulgaris, 17 December, 2009 - 3:33pm login or register to post comments

 
cool, thanks
..
… Andrew Williams, 17 December, 2009 - 3:48pm login or register to post comments

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