Ant Orgy

[poliphilo]

We didn't get to go out yesterday (for reasons beyond our control) and I was feeling a little glum and wishing something exciting would happen when I walked into a swarm of flying ants.

Some of them were in the air, but most were on the ground, rushing around the way ants do-  a few having squirmy, dangerous-looking sex.

I read up about them afterwards. They come out of the ground in warm dry weather, have a bit of a rave, hook up with a partner and then- if they're female- drop off their wings and scurry back underground to lay their eggs. I don't know what the males do- probably just keel over and die.

I reckon they got things done in the nick of time because it rained heavily over night.

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Every single May we have an invasion of winged ants. They seem to nest in the basement walls and get inside that way as well. It's quite hard to control their sheer numbers!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

This was a fairly small swarm- and it was at a distance from the house (thankfully.)