Create a list of articles to read later. You will be able to access your list from any article in Discover. Each summer, there comes a moment when we suddenly notice that the ground is crawling with large winged ants. Then the air seems to be full of them and we find ourselves ducking and diving, trying not to get them in our mouths or hair.
So what causes this simultaneous taking to the air, and is there really such a thing as flying ant day?
Find out when and why ants grow wings and swarm. Flying ants are known as alates. In the UK, particularly in urban areas, the winged insects you see are almost always the sexually mature queens and males of the black garden ant, Lasius niger. The larger ants are the queens. They can be up to 15mm long. Black garden ant Lasius niger. The queens are much larger than the worker ants. This annual swarming event usually occurs in July or August and coincides with a period of hot and humid weather.
Winged ants appear at different times around the country and local weather conditions are critical for the coordination of swarming activity. Ants tend to fly earlier in urban areas than rural areas, probably because temperatures are generally warmer in urban environments, known as the urban heat island effect.
It can be unfortunate timing for tennis players at Wimbledon. There are years when flying ants plague players during their matches, causing so much disruption it makes the news. However, swarms of flying ants can appear any time between June and the start of September. A multi-year citizen science project by the Royal Society of Biology found that the widely held idea of a 'flying ant day' is actually a misconception : there is no single day when ants fly all at once.
Rather, there is a 'flying ant season'. Winged ants actually emerge over several weeks, although there are often several peaks in appearances, each lasting only a few days. The precise pattern of swarming varies from year to year. Swarming is triggered by the weather : the study found that ants only flew on days when it was warm, not windy and conditions had improved compared to the previous day. Prior to swarming, ants are going about their everyday business and living in a colony in a nest.
Black garden ants nest in dry soil. You'll often find them in flower beds and lawns, and under paving slabs or stones. Patios are a favoured location. They are common in almost any dry, open area that is warmed by the Sun - including gardens, pavements, brownfield sites, heathland, grassland and coastal areas.
In the few weeks before the swarming event happens, you may see heaps of soil appearing above the nests. A Lasius niger ant nest that has been exposed when a paving slab was moved.
Worker ants and pupae are visible. Ants live in a caste system, where individuals have specific jobs. The queen lays the eggs while female workers look after the queen, eggs and larvae. They also gather food, enlarge the nest and otherwise ensure the colony runs smoothly.
Most of the eggs develop into workers, but when the colony is ready, the queen begins to produce virgin queens and males. When the winged males drones and virgin queens princesses emerge from the nest, they scatter to maximise the chance of mating between different colonies and reduce inbreeding. An ant colony can only expand so much. At some point a new queen will need to strike out on her own to begin a new colony.
She needs to meet and mate with a male from a different colony and find a new area in which to start building her nest. Growing wings and flying enables her to do this. So each year, alates emerge from nests and take flight. They aren't interested in people or picnics - they are just looking for a mate. The large winged females and the smaller winged males are often seen flying joined together.
This is known as the nuptial flight. Winged ants appear in huge numbers when conditions are right. This maximises the chance of successful mating encounters and survival. Why do flying ants appear in such large numbers all at once?
One reason is that this gives them protection from predators. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads.
Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. What Is a Flying Ant? Otherwise known as alates, flying ants are simply ants that are sexually mature. Featured Video. Read More. Your Privacy Rights. Can we get rid of them? No ants one minute and then thousands of flying ants were all over the garden. Friday 17 th July in Devon. Fascinating to watch. I have always seen the ant as a nuisance and stamped on them and more.
Yes several clouds of them taking off One seemed to be coming out of a nest but were being attacked by ants with no wings.
There were bodie of dead ones on their backs. On Sunday 12th of July, me, my sister and my mum were relaxing in the garden when a gigantic swarm of flying ants landed all around us. Three separate swarms took off today in the warm weather.
There were thousands. Unfortunately the birds seem to have missed them though the swifts may have caught some of the higher up.
Just appeared out of the cracks in paving. Absolutely remarkable. Within sn hour they were gone. Miracle of nature.
Swarm of flying ants in New Bold st Helen's merseyside. Seem to be attracted to the artificial grass for some reason. My study was covered with flying ants, how they got there I don't know, many about 15mm long others very tiny. This happened today 12th July It is incredible that ants can produce wings from nowhere to repopulate? We talk about Butterflies and their transformation, but isnt this just astonishing. Thats very cool. We have flying ant's everywhere.
We did not know if they were bad or good thanks for the info!!!! Today is the 12 th July We live in Hampshire. We just had an ant swarm. I'm in surrey. Temperature is 21 and they have just finished flying the next Strange how all nests know when to come out at the same time!
They are 2 days early to last year Ask a parent or guardian to check it out first and remember to stay safe online. See all. Find out why ants take to the skies! Read on to discover more… 1.
Flying ants are just normal ants — with wings! They fly to set up new ant colonies The ants take to the skies so that queens can mate with males from different colonies, and set up new nests of their own.
Tennis stars hate them! Female flying ants are bigger than males Brave enough to take a closer look? Queens bite their own wings off! Flying ants are also called alates Alates is the name given to the winged form of many insects. Want to know more? Picture credit: GettyImages Have you seen any flying ants this summer? Leave a comment below! Save Avatar Randomize. Home Is Good Get messy, explore and appreciate nature, all from the safety of home! They may be small, but boy are these little critters powerful!
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