The challenge: to see how many species of ants I could find in Tucson, Arizona in two hours.
Species 2. Forelius
Most likely they are Forelius mcccooki, the species I have identified in Phoenix, but because this was a public place I didn’t take samples.
Chris Schmidt indicates that Forelius are probably the ants you are most likely to stumble upon in Tucson (Backyard Ants of Tucson).
Forelius are always easy to spot because they are active even during the hottest parts of the day and they forage in long trails along sidewalks or up trees.
I had to laugh at what I found next.
Do you remember the person who fed colored water to ants to make them turn the colors of the rainbow? (Alex Wild shows a photograph by Maxim Piessen that uses the same technique.)
Now nature imitates art.
The color was provided by…
a prickly pear cactus fruit with help from this gal.
Do Forelius ants occur where you live? What color are they? 🙂
