This week for Flora and Fauna Friday we have the sandhill silo-makers with their sand grain granaries, the Florida Harvester Ant (Pogonomyrmex badius).
The Florida Harvester Ant is a native species of ant with a narrow range within the United States. They’re chiefly found in Florida but also have two narrow strips of habitat running through South Carolina, one through the sandhills of the midlands and another along the Sea Islands of the coast. This is because they build their nests in deep sand, which can only readily be found in these two geologic regions of South Carolina. They are commonly found in habitats that can thoroughly be described as dry sand, specifically they prefer open grasslands and dry savannas. Their nests are easy to spot, shallow mounds of pure, vegetation-free sand with a pencil sized hole or two near the center, and usually abuzz with big red ants.
Our ants themselves are hard to miss too. They’re a hearty brick-red with a coat of fine hairs all over and fairly large. There are three classes of ant you’ll see scurrying across the surface, each of a different size and shape. The smallest and most numerous are the minor workers with relatively slender proportions and measuring in at only about a quarter-inch in length. Next are the median workers who look much the same as the minor workers but a little larger with a slightly bigger head. Lastly, the most striking is the major worker who comes in at three-eighths of an inch with a disproportionately large head. Each of these worker classes has a different role and they’re shaped according to those roles. This comes with the caveat that all these roles overlap to some degree yet some ants are better suited to certain tasks than others. Minor workers do the bulk of the work, moving soil, tending to larvae, and collecting food. Medians help as well and do some of the heavier lifting like scouting, moving larger food, and attacking prey. Major workers are, predictably, the heavy hitters. They’re there for tearing apart food, so it can fit into the nest, and defending the nest from attackers.
Speaking of defense, like most ants their primary form of defense is their stinger and the venom it injects. I can tell you from first hand, and foot, experience that that venom is no joke. The sting of the Florida Harvester Ant is up there with a paper wasp, if not worse. It will burn and throb for almost 24-hours if you have the misfortune to aggravate these ants. Thankfully, our Harvester Ants are mainly pacifists. Unlike Fire Ants, Yellow Jackets, and certain species of Paper Wasp, they won’t sting you unless absolutely necessary. They don’t climb clothing and they don’t swarm. You pretty much have to stand on a nest barefoot. This pacifism, I believe, is largely due to their primarily vegetarian diet. Harvester Ants, as you may surmise from the name, harvest, specifically they harvest seeds. They do eat insects and small vertebrates when afforded the opportunity but generally subsist off of grass and broadleaf weed seeds, which they store underground in larders for future use. Fun fact, they’re fond of white millet and will pick up scattered birdseed to bring back to their nest.
