Ants of Pringle Bay
ThalleonAdmin
05/04/2024
There are more species of ants in southern Africa than there are birds, and more than there are trees, yet these important insects – more numerous on the planet than any other arthropod – are pretty much unknown to most people, and, scientifically speaking, pretty under-studied. Ask most people about ants and they’ll describe them as small, numerous, black and, please, how can we get rid of them?
Despite that there are in fact only a few species that are a damn nuisance. Most of them play essential roles in almost every ecosystem, as cleaners, recyclers, dispersers of seeds and suppressors of much greater nuisances such as caterpillars, flies, etc. Related to wasps and bees, ants are often placed at the top of the insect evolutionary ‘tree’ and are widely used by scientists as indicators of environmental health. If the ant populations of an area are good and healthy, the environment is in good shape.
It’s not that difficult to learn the basics, too. Although there are a large number of species, many of these are either obscure or so small that most of us over forty can’t see them anyway. There are about a dozen genera that are found almost everywhere in the region, some with very easily-identified species and all found in Pringle Bay.
Anoplolepis
“Pugnacious ants”, very active little reddish brown ants in multiple sizes that run around on hot sand looking for toes to bite; they are of major importance in fynbos as vital dispersers of the seeds of over a thousand species, including some of our most charismatic Proteaceae.
Camponotus
“Sugar ants”, medium to very large ants [majors up to 20mm]. The “hairy sugar ant”, all-black with white gastral [= abdominal] bristles, is probably Betty’s Bay’s most common species. The very large, nocturnal, yellow-red-brown “spotted sugar ant” is a close second.
Crematogaster
“Cocktail ants” are so-called from their habit of raising their gasters aggressively when disturbed. Easily identified, they are the black ants that build large carton-like nests in bushes, and that swarm out when you disturb them, biting everything in sight.
Lepisiota
“Small sugar ants”, small [>3mm], very black and very shiny. In the veld they live in small colonies but they have learned to invade homes, where their colonies can become quite large and they can be seen running in trails through your kitchen.
Pheidole
“House ants”, small [>2.5mm] yellowish brown ants with a curious major caste of much larger ants [4mm] with big, square, block-like heads. Can become household pests but also play a huge role in fynbos seed dispersal. The African big-headed ant, Pheidole megacephala, is one that we have bequeathed to the planet as a major worldwide invader.
Myrmicaria
“Droptail ants”, medium [5mm] black ants with large drooping gasters that bumble around at a medium pace but can get quite aggro if you disturb them There is only one species in the Western Cape, Myrmicaria nigra.
Tetraponera
“Slender ants”, very thin, elongated ants about 5mm long, black or yellow, that nest in the stems of Watsonias, etc
There are several other common genera but no space left to describe them: Technomyrmex, Dorylus, Monomorium, Messor and the ubiquitous Tetramorium being but a few of these.
Finally, the world-wide invasive Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, occurs sporadically in Pringle Bay and is a serious threat to fynbos survival, in that they eradicate the indigenous seed-dispersing ants upon which so many plants depend. They are always brown, all the same size [>3 mm], and are the only ants that will swarm out of their nests carrying their brood when you water your garden. They often nest under paving stones where pouring boiling water into their holes is a humane and environmentally safe method of getting rid of them.
ThalleonAdmin