Odorous ants (Tapinoma erraticum)

Tapinoma erraticum · Tapinoma
Odorous ants (Tapinoma erraticum). Recorded flying from May through July. Dark brown head, dark brown mesosoma, blackish brown gaster. Uniformly dark brown-to-black body with pale translucent wings held over the gaster. Recorded near 5 of the 190 locations Dealate tracks.

When do odorous ants fly?

Recorded flying from May through July.

Flight calendar

Jan
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Queen appearance

Dark brown head, dark brown mesosoma, blackish brown gaster. Uniformly dark brown-to-black body with pale translucent wings held over the gaster.
fast, erratic, jerky scurrying; raises the gaster up over the thorax in a characteristic alarm display
Founding care
Fully claustral: seal her in a test tube setup, somewhere dark and undisturbed. She raises the first brood on her own wing muscles and needs no food or opening until the first workers appear.
Needs a winter diapause: a cool, dark rest period each year.
Diet: Insects, meat, sugar water, honey etc.
Intermediate · Queen ~4.5-5 mm
Read more on AntWiki →
Care data from antkeeping.info (CC BY 4.0).

Habitat

Soil · also under stones · typical for this genus
After a flight, watch bare or grassy ground for wingless queens. Scan stony ground, paths and kerbs for searching queens.

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