Ant Color Vision

Question:

I keep companotus herculeanus (carpinter ants) [Camponotus herculeanus carpenter ants] i’ve got the queen to nest in a bit of rotton wood in a hollow next to the glass i want to be able to look at the nest so other ant keepers have told me to put red film over the glass as ants can’t see red light but some say they can do you know? if not do you lnow how to test if they can.thanks . …MARK

Thanks for the great question, Mark. Looking for the answer led to some cool information about ant vision.

The short answer is keeping ants in dark red light is still a good way to observe them under low light intensities. But there is evidence that ants may be able to see red, especially scarlet red, under certain conditions.

History
The famous bee biologist, Karl von Frisch, reported early in the 20th century that honey bees could see color. In fact, he was able to establish that the bees could see blue, yellow and green, as well as ultraviolet and polarized light (which we can’t see). Honey bees did not appear to be able to see red.

Because ants and bees are closely related, everyone assumed their vision was similar.

However, the eyes of different species of ants vary in size and complexity. For example, the compound eyes of the worker ants of your species, Camponotus herculeanus, are moderate in size. Notice the three small, shiny  ocelli at the top of the head. Those are used for vision as well.

Camponotus_herculeanus_head_2
Camponotus herculeanus Photographer: April Nobile Date Uploaded: 11/30/2006 Copyright: Copyright AntWeb.org, 2000-2009. Licensing: Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 (cc-by-sa-3.0) Creative Commons License

In contrast, the workers of Gigantiops destructor have huge eyes.

Gigantiops-destructor
Gigantiops destructor Photographer: Michael Branstetter Date Uploaded: 07/20/2009 Copyright: Copyright AntWeb.org, 2000-2009. Licensing: Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 (cc-by-sa-3.0) Creative Commons License

Recently scientists have begun to check ants’ ability to see colors, as well as learn more about how their eyes work.

In 2004, Deprickere, Fresneau and Deneubourg found that worker Lasius niger ants tending brood behaved differently in response to red light, as compared to foraging workers. Foraging workers were less likely to aggregate (clump together) when exposed to red light in contrast to darkness, whereas workers tending brood showed no differences in aggregation. These results suggested some sort of ability to detect red light.

By doing choice tests (operant conditioning) with workers of Myrmica sabuleti in 2007, Marie-Claire Cammaerts was able to find that ants were slightly sensitive to red at high light intensity (10,000 lux), but not at low light intensity (600 lux). There seemed to be differences between scarlet red (which has a shorter wavelength) and dark red. Dark red was not detected at either intensity.

The conclusion I make is that the darker the red and the lower the intensity of light, the less the chance that ants can detect it.

If you are curious to find out more, you can always do your own experiments. Figure out some measure of behavior, such how many worker ants bunch up together (aggregate), and then see how it changes under different types of light.

Good luck, and let me know what happens.

For more information on ant vision “see:”

Roberto Keller at the American Museum of Natural History has an excellent overview of ant vision at Homology Weekly: Compound Eyes.

Marie-Claire Cammaerts. 2007. Colour vision in the ant Myrmica sabuleti Meinert, 1861 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News 10: 41-50 available at myrmecologicalnews.org/cms/images/pdf/…/mn10_41-50_non-printable.pdf as a non printable .pdf file.

Stephanie Depickere, Dominique Fresneau, Jean-Louis Deneubourg, The influence of red light on the aggregation of two castes of the ant, Lasius niger, Journal of Insect Physiology, Volume 50, Issue 7, July 2004, Pages 629-635.

Robert Kretz. 1979. A behavioural analysis of colour vision in the ant Cataglyphis bicolor (Formicidae, Hymenoptera). J. Comp. Physiol. 131:  217-233.

Carlos Martinoya1, Susana Bloch, Dora F. Ventura and Niélsy M. Puglia. Spectral efficiency as measured by ERG in the ant (Atta sexdens rubropilosa). Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology
Volume 104, Number 2 / June, 1975: 205-210.

(Note: As I mentioned previously, I have been the “Consult-Ant” on the Leaping from the Box website. I answer questions about ants and ant farms. From now on I will post the answers here, and when Karen has time she will also post the answers on her site.)

Ant Farm Question About Kits

Question:

I am really excited about getting an ant queen but am not sure if my ant farm would work. I live in New York and am waiting for ant swarms and hope to get a black ant queen. They build dirt mounds and my kit is plaster and has no dirt would they mind? My ant farm is 10 inches wide and 7 inches tall and is part of a brand called ecosystem its called ant mines and is attached to another colony called Mayan ant invasion. Would my hive work? Sincerely, Worried Mike

Dear Mike,

I checked what your ant farm sets look like (see below to make sure I got the right ones.) They seem fine to get you started. The plaster is a system that ant scientists developed for studying ant colonies. Many ant species get along just fine without soil. In fact, adding soil makes it more likely that your ant farm will develop a mold or parasites that could make the ants sick, so they will do better without it.

At first the queen will not move around much, so you don’t need a big space. In fact, you will probably just need one of those kits at first. Once you have ants in the kits, be sure to check them often. Workers ants may chew at any weak spot in the plastic and try to escape. Where tubes join are favorite places to attack. Also, be sure to read all the instructions that come with your kits.

In New York you probably have a few weeks before you need to worry too much about catching a queen. Ants usually swarm once the weather gets warm enough to produce spring or summer thundershowers.

Hope this helps you worry less 🙂

-The Consult-Ant

(Note: As I mentioned previously, I have been the “Consult-Ant” on the Leaping from the Box website. I answer questions about ants and ant farms. From now on I will post the answers here, and when Karen has time she will also post the answers on her site.)

Ant Farm Question

I have an ant question! We just got an ant farm and I think they are soldier ants and they just sit on the surface of the sand all day.  What should I feed them and water them?  Will they ever tunnel?

Thank you,

Heather

If you got a standard commercial ant farm, the ants you have are worker ants. This just means that you don’t have a queen ant. Soldiers are extra big workers, which often perform special tasks.

Usually the type of ants sold with commercial ant farms are harvester ants, because their large size and tendency to tunnel makes them fun to watch. They are also relatively easy to collect.

Have you ever made a sand castle? If so, you have probably found out that if the sand is too dry it simply falls down when you try to build with it. If the sand is too wet, it is like mud and you can’t shape it properly. The sand has to have the right amount of water in it to build a good castle.

Ants have the same requirements. They prefer their sand to be a bit moist. If your sand is too dry or too wet, however, they won’t be able to tunnel in it.

Try adding some water to the farm with an eye dropper. Add a small amount at a time to dampen the sand a bit. Be careful, because too much water and food can make it moldy.

Another reason that ants won’t move around much is if they are too cold. Do you have your ant farm indoors? Is it warm enough for you to visit them without a sweater? If not, you might try moving them to somewhere a bit warmer.

As for food, adult worker ants mostly drink liquids. Mix a bit of honey or sugar with about the same amount of water in a small container. Soak the sweet-water mixture into a bit of paper towel rolled up into a ball or a piece of cotton ball. Make sure it is small enough so it will fit into the opening of the ant farm. Place it on the surface of the sand near the ants. Be sure to change the food often, as it might get moldy and/or dry out.

Please let me know if you still have further questions. You might also be interested in the posts on answers to questions from fourth graders, and the Ant Facts or Fiction quiz.

(Note: As I mentioned previously, I have been the “Consult-Ant” on the Leaping from the Box website. I answer questions about ants and ant farms. From now on I will post the answers here, and when Karen has time she will also post the answers on her site.)

Development of Ant Queens

(Note: As I mentioned previously, I have been the “Consult-Ant” on the Leaping from the Box website. I answer questions about ants and ant farms. From now on I will post the answers here, and when Karen has time she will also post the answers on her site.)

Question:  Hi, I am a reading teacher in an elementary school.  We are reading a book about ants.  My students wanted to know what would happen to an ant colony if their queen died.  I was able to find the answers.  One of the answers was that the workers would choose a larva or larvae to feed a special diet to enable it (them) to become a queen(s).  What does that special diet consist of?

Is there any other way for an existing worker to become a queen if the colony’s queen dies?  Can she eat a special diet to stimulate hormones that would change her into a queen?

First of all, thank you for being willing to look for answers to your students’ questions. I’m sure they appreciate your effort.

These are actually difficult questions, and scientists are still finding out some of the answers. The information you found about workers being able to rear a new queen is definitely true for honey bees.  The worker honey bees feed the larvae (young grubs) destined to become queens a formula called “royal jelly.” Larvae fed regular food turn into workers. The composition of royal jelly has been studied extensively, and you can buy it over the Internet.

Because there are over 12,000 different kinds of ants, however, how an egg becomes a queen varies considerably between species. Ants were long assumed to have the same food-based system as the honey bees, but now that research techniques are more advanced, it seems that at least in some kinds of ants the eggs laid by the queen are predestined to be either workers or queens. No matter how much food it is given,  queen egg becomes a queen ant and a worker egg becomes a worker ant. This is found to be the case in harvester ants and big-headed ants (See references below.) When food makes a difference, such as determining whether a worker becomes  a big worker (major) or not, it seems to be the amount of food rather than the quality.

In ant species with a single queen, generally the workers will not accept a new queen and the colony dies out when the queen dies. In ant species with many queens per colony, however, such as the Argentine ant, the workers may accept new queens. How many queens a colony will accept may be influenced by how highly related the workers are, as well as environmental factors.

As for a worker being able to become a queen, once again it depends on what kind of ant you study. In ants with a separate queen “caste,” with a queen that is bigger and structurally different, a worker can never become a queen. Once a worker ant becomes an adult, it can not change its form. A worker ant does not have wings necessary for going on a mating flight, for example, and can not grow them. When the queen dies, because the workers are females they may be able to lay eggs, but the eggs are unfertilized and result in male ants.

Other ants are more like wasps. All the ants within a single colony look pretty much alike with no physically different queen, and one worker acts as a queen (it has a special name, called a “gamergate”). In this case, when the queen-worker dies, another worker can assume her role. The queen-workers’ hormone levels do change and her sisters can detect the changes. One species with this type of queen-worker is the jumping ant, Harpegnathos saltator.

Harpegnathos_saltator_brh
(Photo: Harpegnathos saltator from the BR hills, November 2006, Author=L. Shyamal WikiMedia Commons)

I know that is all probably as clear as mud. 🙂 Please let me know if you still have further questions. You might also be interested in the posts on answers to questions from fourth graders, and the Ant Facts or Fiction quiz.

And if anyone has more information pertaining to these questions or knows of more recent research, I would love to learn more.

References:

Holldobler, B. and E.O. Wilson. (1990). The ants. Cambridge MA:  Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

A recent article in ScienceDaily about harvester ants.

Abstract about research on big-headed ants (Pheidole).