Wonders of Wildlife: Little Black Ant

Little Black Ant

Scientific Name: Monomorium minimum

Found in Alabama: Statewide

Diet: Carnivore (eats animals)

Little Black Ant in Habitat
Wikimedia – Diego Delso

Learn More About...

Classification

IDENTIFICATION

Adaptations

Life Cycle

Habitat Needs

Ecological Role

CLASSIFICATION

Scientists use basic traits to
group animals into different taxonomic
classes.

For a taxonomic classification chart comparing key traits of common backyard wildlife,
CLICK HERE!

What type of animal am I?

I am an invertebrate (an animal without a spine or backbone).
I am cold-blooded, so I cannot control my body temperature.
I have a stiff covering on the outside of my body called an exoskeleton.
I breathe through small holes in my abdomen called spiracles.
I have six legs.
I am normally recognized without wings, but some individuals (males and the queen) do have wings.

The Little Black Ant is an INSECT!

IDENTIFICATION TIPS

ADULT ANT

About 1/16 of an inch long (smaller than the eraser on the end of a pencil)
Shiny black and reddish-brown coloration
Antennae have club-shaped tips

Little Black Ants – Monomorium minimum
Bugguide.net – Sam Houston

QUEEN

Larger than the males and workers
Have wings

Little Black Ant Queen
www.AntWeb.org – April Nobile

WORKER (FEMALE)

Smaller than queens and males
Do not have wings

Little Black Ant Worker
www.AntWeb.org – April Nobile

MALE

Smaller than queens but
larger than workers
Have wings

Monomorium sp. male
© Seth Burgess, used by permission

PHYSICAL AND BEHAVIORAL ADAPTATIONS

PHYSICAL ADAPTATIONS

Little Black Ants are very strong:

Little black ants can carry 10 – 50 times their body weight.
Their joints (where their different body parts connects) can experience more than 3,000 times their body weight without breaking.
This allows an ant to carry a large piece of food (that weigh as much as 10-50 ants) back to its colony.

Little Black Ants can communicate with each other:

Little black ants have sticky (adhesive) pads on their feet that help them walk up tree trunks and along the bottom of leaves or branches when they are upside down.

BEHAVIORAL ADAPTATIONS

Little black ants are diurnal:

They are active during the day (diurnal).

Little black ants work as a group:

Because of their small size, little black ants must work as a group to defend their resources.
Each colony can have over 2,000 worker ants.
Worker ants use their stingers to defend against larger ants that might compete for the same resources.

Little black ants protect themselves with a toxin:

Gaster flagging is a defensive behavior used by the little black ant.
The back end of the ant is called the gaster.
When a little black ant is stressed, it raises its gaster and releases a toxin (chemical poison produced by a living organism).
The poisons repel competitors that may be after the same resources.
If a competitor does not respond to this warning, the ant will engage in combat.

Ants in Battle (species unknown)
Dreamstime

Little black ants are eusocial:

Ants are considered a eusocial species which means they live in colonies, divide the labor and reproductive duties, and have overlapping generations.
The colonies contain mostly worker ants (females) and queen ants.
Each colony can range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of individuals with 2-38 queens per colony.
The queen ants are fed more as larvae (babies) and grow to be larger.
The queen has the responsibility of reproducing (producing more babies).
Other females that are not fed as much as larvae become workers.
The workers are responsible for keeping the colony clean and feeding the brood (the babies).
Males only live for a few weeks during the summer when breeding occurs.
Males and queens have wings, allowing them to spread out to find mates.
The queen may remove her wings after forming a new colony.

Little black ants and aphids help each other survive:

Little black ants and aphids have a mutualistic relationship (when both species benefit).
While feeding on plants, aphids produce a sugary liquid called honeydew.
Ants rely heavily on honeydew as a food source, so they use their toxins (chemical poison produced by organisms) and stingers to protect the aphids against other ants that compete for the same resource.
This behavior benefits the aphids by providing protection and benefits the ants by ensuring they have access to the honeydew.

Ant, Aphid, and Honeydew
Wikimedia – Dawidi, Johannesburg, South Africa

LIFE CYCLE

An Ant’s Life Cycle
Wikimedia – Tate Holbrook

Metamorphosis is the process of physical change that some animals go through as they transform from a larvae into an adult.

Four Life Cycle Stages of the Little Black Ant

Stage 1: Egg

Females lay soft-shelled eggs in chambers in the soil.

Stage 2: Larvae:

The larvae (young) are soft-bodied and do not have legs or antennae.
The queen feeds the larvae.

Stage 3: Pupa

The larvae enter a pupa stage in which they do not move and are not fed.

Stage 4: Adult

After a few weeks in the pupa stage, they emerge as adult black ants.

Lifespan

Queen: several decades
Workers (females): several months
Males: several weeks

HABITAT NEEDS

Natural Habitat Needs	Adults	Young
Food	Little black ants feed on honeydew, a sugary liquid produced by aphids after ingesting plant material. They also feed on dead insects. They occasionally feed on some live insects.	Larvae (young) are fed regurgitated (food that has been spit back up) food provided by the worker ants.
Water	Necessary hydration obtained through food sources. Ants may also drink from dew drops on plants or from puddles.
Shelter	Build shallow nest cavities in places that have heat and moisture such as under debris, wood, and rocks. They can be found in habitats such as forests, meadows, and prairies. They also nest in above ground structures like rotted logs and limbs.	The young are kept in a special area within the nest, called the brood chamber.
Places to Raise Young	The brood (larval or young ants) are raised and cared for in chambers just beneath the surface of the soil.

If you want to offer resources in your backyard habitat for this species, consider the suggestions below.

Backyard Habitat Needs	Adults	Young
Food	Do not remove aphids on plant material. Do not remove rotting logs where other insects can be found.	Young are fed regurgitated (spit up) food provided by the worker ants. Do not remove aphids from plants. Do not remove rotting logs that provide habitat for insects.
Water	Necessary hydration is obtained through food sources. Provide native plants that support aphid populations, and do not remove rotting logs. Ants may also drink from dew drops on plants or from puddles.
Shelter	Do not remove leaf litter, rotting logs, and rocks.
Places to Raise Young	Leave leaf litter and rotting logs to allow the ants to create a nest chamber where brood is raised and cared for.

ECOLOGICAL ROLE

Animals play an important ecological role in the health of habitats and ecosystems.

Food Source:

The main predators (animals that eat them) of ants include other ants, beetles, birds, frogs, toads, and spiders.

Decomposer:

Little black ants eat dead and decaying insects.
This helps remove the insects and then return the nutrients to the soil.

Pollinator:

The little black ant may serve as a pollinator – an animal that moves pollen, the powdery yellow substance found in flowers, from one plant to another.
Pollen in flowers can stick to the tiny hairs on the ant while it searches for nectar or honeydew to eat.

Spreads Seeds: