Introduction
If you are an entomologist, it goes without saying that you are interested in ants. Whatever is cool about insects is especially cool for ants. Beyond their diversity and structural beauty, ants have the special feature of sociality. And of course they are utterly common and easily observed. So I was glad finally to have an excuse to really investigate ants, when I developed a study with a local high school student as part of UConn's Conservation Training Partnership. We surveyed the ants of urban gardens in Hartford CT.
Report summary and species list HERE.
This initial foray identified 20 or so common disturbed-habitat species. How many total ant species are there in the variety of habitats to be found in the small state of Connecticut? Around 96, to date. That is the count from the database of 4600 occurrence records compiled by Aaron Ellison of Harvard Forest, which contributed to the excellent The Field Guide to the Ants of New England. Those data are pretty comprehensive, some 4600 records.
So what is left to do in the state of CT? We'll keep looking. The species count will increase, as we look at unique habitats, and as climate change nudges southern species north. Our knowledge of particular species, especially the rare ones, will expand. But the stealth mission is to spread enthusiasm about ants to a wide audience, citizens that need their own excuses to sort through leaf litter and turn over rocks to observe this piece of nature.
Report summary and species list HERE.
This initial foray identified 20 or so common disturbed-habitat species. How many total ant species are there in the variety of habitats to be found in the small state of Connecticut? Around 96, to date. That is the count from the database of 4600 occurrence records compiled by Aaron Ellison of Harvard Forest, which contributed to the excellent The Field Guide to the Ants of New England. Those data are pretty comprehensive, some 4600 records.
So what is left to do in the state of CT? We'll keep looking. The species count will increase, as we look at unique habitats, and as climate change nudges southern species north. Our knowledge of particular species, especially the rare ones, will expand. But the stealth mission is to spread enthusiasm about ants to a wide audience, citizens that need their own excuses to sort through leaf litter and turn over rocks to observe this piece of nature.
Biodiversity of ants in Hartford community gardens. Conservation Training Partnership study with Lucia Volin, a high school student.
Report summary and species list HERE.
Photo at right: Huntington Street Garden, one of 12 sampling locations.
Tools for Investigation
Hunting and identifying ants is a little daunting. Ants are famously tiny, and telling one from another requires a bit of new vocabulary, careful observation, and decent magnification. A good way to start is with the definitive Field Guide to the Ants of New England. Beyond that, it would be really helpful to have some idea of where our local species are found, and a set of reference images to aid in ID. For these, click the links below:
Map of CT Ant Records, by Species. Generated from Aaron Ellison database.
Also of interest: a www page about ants in Massachusetts includes a simple key to species. |
CT Ant Species List, with Reference Images. List compiled from database by Aaron Ellison. Links to images on AntWeb. These images are not of local ants--they've been chosen as exemplars of the particular species.
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AntWeb is an online collection of specimen data from around the world. Many of the images are of extraordinary quality and sufficient for species level ID.