Moth Wing Ant

During the summer we frequently leave the deck light on over the creek to photograph porchlight moths.  Many of the moths are near the end of their brief lives and occasionally end up on the deck.  This year I started to notice occasional ants collecting wings of dead moths and hauling them off.

Lifting the wing over the gap

The trip across our rustic deck isn't easy.  Between the gaps in the boards and the scattering of cedar leaves, the ants march with determination, driven by an unknown plan.  This video shows the arduous journey of one ant.  It is carrying a wing in its mouth that is 5 times the length of its body.  Most of the time it is out in front and frequently it uses the wing almost like a bridge across gaps in the deck flooring.

I needed some closeup pictures for ant identification but these busy critters never stood still for a second.  I put out peanut butter for bait and they bit.  Soon they were hauling mouthfuls larger than their heads back to their nest as seen in this video.  I sent the pictures to my favorite myrmecologist, Dr. James Trager, who identified them as Aphanogaster lamellidens, or AL to us.

"An easy way to recognize this ant, in addition to their woodland habitat and distinctive color pattern, is the complete lack of standing bristles on the mesosoma (thorax), especially well seen in your first photo." (below) James Trager

AL hauls off a peanut butter lunch

Antwiki.org  has great closeup photographs and more details on their life style.  Click these to enlarge the views.

Antwiki.org

Antwiki.org

"Aphaenogaster lamellidens is a common woodland species found in eastern North America, from New York south and west to Texas. They form large colonies (several thousand workers) and are ground nesting in open areas, under rocks or in or under rotten wood. Workers are general predators and scavengers, feeding on a range of living and dead insects and other arthropods."  Antwiki.org

Since this is a woodland species, we are at the western edge of their territory.   Like most ant species it is not a household pest although it might show up at your picnic, especially if you are serving peanut butter!  It is mostly found in oak hickory forests which fits with our location.  Antweb.org lists peanut butter as one method of collecting specimens.
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For another ant story check out this Smithsonian Daily on rodeo ants, from Texas of course.  These are ants that ride on the backs of another ant species' queen into the queen's nest where "they pilfer food from their perches and trick them into babysitting the rider’s eggs."