A harvester ant worker (Pogonomyrmex rugosus) pulls grass seeds off the stalk. Ants store the seeds in underground chambers to carry them through times of drought. Tucson, Arizona, USA - Alex Wild Photography - Insect Photography

Seed-Harvesting Ants

Granivory has evolved numerous times among the ants, especially in arid regions where seed stores help colonies survive extended periods of dearth.

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Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, the western harvester ants, mating

Hallelujah Junction, California, USA

Western harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex occidentalis) make distinctive mound nests on the desert floor.

Hallelujah Junction, California, USA

Two harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex rugosus) from adjacent nests engaging in ritual warfare, pushing in a display of force but not actually harming each other. It is thought that colonies use these mock battles to gather information about their neighbors. Knowledge about the strength of competing colonies helps ants set territorial borders without loss of life.

Tucson, Arizona, USA

A Pogonomyrmex rugosus worker shows off her psammophore, the basket of long hairs on the underside of her head used for carrying sand grains. This structure enticed Austrian taxonomist Gustav Mayr to name this genus Pogonomyrmex, or "bearded ant".

Tucson, Arizona, USA

A harvester ant worker (Pogonomyrmex rugosus) pulls grass seeds off the stalk. Ants store the seeds in underground chambers to carry them through times of drought.

Tucson, Arizona, USA

One of the strangest recorded ant phenomena is a hybrid zone between two species of harvester ants in the western United States. Pogonomyrmex rugosus and Pogonomyrmex barbatus apparently hybridized in the ancient past, leading to a pair of genetically complex daughter lineages that continually need to cross with each other in order to make worker ants. The queens and males remain genetically separate. Young queens need to mate with their own species, to produce more queens and males, and with the other species, to produce workers.

This image shows a hybrid worker leaving the nest.

Portal, Arizona, USA

At the busy nest entrance of a red harvester ant colony, Pogonomyrmex barbatus.

Sycamore Canyon, Arizona, USA

Pogonomyrmex barbatus nest.

Sycamore Canyon, Arizona, USA

A nest of harvester ants comes to life at dusk in urban Tucson. Pogonomyrmex rugosus.

Tucson, Arizona, USA

A harvester ant worker (Pogonomyrmex rugosus) pulls grass seeds off the stalk. Ants store the seeds in underground chambers to carry them through times of drought.

Tucson, Arizona, USA

Canon EOS 20D |

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Keywords: desert grass seeds insects formicidae myrmicinae harvester ants pogonomyrmex worker ants granivory psammophore pogonomyrmex rugosus rough harvester ant desert ecology ant workers

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Seed-Harvesting Ants

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