Red Harvester Ants

Pogonomyrmex barbatus

Major mound builders. The mounds are all over the Mesa; the species does pretty well up here. Interestingly, they always keep their mounds clean by removing any plant debris that falls on it.

All of the pictures are of females. The males have wings. They are seed eaters, using their crazy strong jaws to crush the seeds into powder. They’re really quite fascinating, just study them from a distance or online. Though they are not fire ants, they defend their mounds with a painful, venomous bite.

Wiki has a well developed page. It’s a fascinating read.

That face! Almost looks like a newborn puppy doesn’t it? 😉
Of course if her mandibles were showing, I’d probably not have the same impression.
Look at the chunk the ant in the middle has in her jaws.
Jaws of steel. But if you think this is impressive, look at this next one!
There are a lot of small pebbles in the mounds.
Notice how shiny all of their abdomens are? And those hairs. Do they serve a purpose?


Crawl back to the insects.