Florida harvester ant
The Florida harvester ant is a big red-brown ant that collects seeds like a little farmer. It digs its home deep in warm, sandy ground. Some workers are small and some are big with huge heads.
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Fun facts
Its nest can go down about 3 metres into the sand. That is deeper than a room is tall.
It keeps its seeds in big flat storerooms underground, like a pantry.
About once a year the whole colony moves house, a few metres along its path, and digs a new nest in just a few days.
It decorates the top of its nest with bits of burnt plants, and nobody knows exactly why.
Most asked questions about Florida harvester ant
?What do harvester ants eat?
Mostly seeds, which they collect and store in their nest. They also eat insects.
?How big is the Florida harvester ant?
The workers are about 6 to 9,5 mm long. The queen is even bigger, up to 12 mm.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Pogonomyrmex badius
- Group
- Ants
- Family
- Formicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Formicidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Pogonomyrmex badius (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by April Nobile. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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