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Rove Beetles

As promised, today we have some beetles.

beetle

staphilinid

These tiny rove beetles were in the vicinity of the same native fire ant nests where I found the silverfish (from the previous post.)

Rove beetles or staphylinid beetles (Staphylinidae) have short elytra that only cover a part of the abdomen. These held their abdomen curved up over their backs.

A number of species in the family Staphylinidae are found associated with ants. Some species are predatory, others are scavengers, and some have complex interactions.

I don’t think the ones in the photographs resemble any of the “ant-loving” staphylinids shown at Bug Guide.

Let me know if you have any idea what they are. Or if you would like any further information about them.

Edit:  Dale Ward has found what seems to be the same rove beetles with Southern fire ants as well. See his Solenopsis xyloni page.

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Silverfish in Ant Nests

Silverfish (Order Thysanura) are generally silver-dusted brown or gray insects with a tapering body resembling a sideways carrot with legs. They are known for their habit of infesting houses and eating wallpaper or bookbinding glue.

What a surprise to find silverfish in an ant nest.

ant-silverfish1

The silverfish is the white insect in the center of the photo. As you can see, it is in the tunnel with the ants.

silverfish-large

My best guess is that they are in the family Nicoletiidae, possibly in the genus Grassiella. If you know more, I’d love to hear about it.

ant-silverfish2

A few silverfish are beauticians of the ant world. They approach the ants to groom and clean their outer surface.  The silverfish probably also gets a share of the ants’ meal as payment.

These were found under rocks with native fire ants, Solenopsis sp., which is one reason the photos aren’t closer.

While I was taking photos of the silverfish, I also found a few beetles. More on that tomorrow.

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Solenopsis Queen Ant

You never know what you are going to find under a rock. A group of children and I were flipping rocks, when I spotted a lone queen ant. I picked it up, thinking I would show it to the children under the microscope. Under closer inspection, it turned out to be a bit of a surprise.

Solenopsis-queen1

I knew it was a native fire ant queen, genus Solenopsis. The clubbed antennae are easy to see. Without really looking at it, I figured it was probably Solenopsis xyloni, a common species here.

A closer look, however, let me know this was a less common fire ant.

solenopsis-queen2

If the lighting was better, you could see it is a golden butterscotch color, more like the first photograph.

It is possible the queen is the golden fire ant, Solenopsis aurea, but I think it is Solenopsis amblychila.

In any case, it is a new discovery for me. I couldn’t find out much about the species. Have you ever seen them?

Taking kids outdoors to explore nature often pays off in more ways than you’d expect.

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Shiny Guest Ants

While looking up information on the hairy wood ants, Formica lugubris, I found out about some tiny ants called guest ants that also live in the wood ants’ towering mounds. The shining guest ant, Formicoxenus nitidulus, forms a small nest within the bigger nest. As you can see from the photo below, they are called shining because of their reflective, shiny exoskeleton.

The shining guest ant workers are thought to pick up or steal food from their hosts, which are remarkably tolerant of this behavior. When a worker wood ant does attack a shiny guest ant, it usually gives up quickly. Researchers Martin, Jenner and Drijfhout think this is because shiny guest ants smell/taste bad.

Imagine guests that steal your food, take advantage of your security system, and are covered with an unpleasant substance. At least they are cute.

Formicoxenus_nitidulus
Photo by April Nobile / © AntWeb.org / downloaded from Wikimedia Commons

Seriously, ant mounds house a variety of creatures. With the existence of hairy wood ants threatened, the guests become endangered right along with their ant hosts.

References:

Martin, S. J., E. A. Jenner and F.P. Drijfhout. 2007. Chemical deterrent enables a socially parasitic ant to invade multiple hosts. Proc. R. Soc. B 7  vol. 274 (1626): 2717-2722.

For additional photos including a size comparison, see
The Highland Biological Recording Group