original picture from Cluralit: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/248061978

Stats advice for ant behavior trials?Hi everyone,

I'm running behavioral trials on Pachycondyla ants as a side project alongside my main research (which focuses on ant venom biochemistry), but I wanted to look at when/how the venom actually gets used in different contexts. Problem is I have zero background in ecology or ethology, so I'd love some guidance from people with an ecology/ethology background cause I want to do this properly.

I'm running behavioral trials with Pachycondyla ants confronted with 6 different opponent ant species, across 3 different experimental setups. Each trial is filmed for 1.5–2 minutes (duration varies slightly between videos), so I know I need to normalize for time somehow. And each individual (from both side) is only ever used once so no ant gets reused across trials. For each video, I count occurrences of 5 behaviors:

• Antennal contact (antennae touch any part of the opponent's body
• Mandible opening (mandibles open, with the two individuals about one body length apart)
• Biting
• Gaster flexing (abdomen curved as if about to sting)
• Stinging

 What statistical approach would you recommend for count data like this? What kind of plots actually work well for this kind of data? not looking to just dump a boxplot of raw counts if there's something better... I've already gone through some papers on ant behavior / interspecific aggression, but if you have specific methodological references you think are worth checking that use a similar design, I'd love pointers.

Not trying to overthink this, just want something defensible since it'll probably end up as a supplementary part of a bigger paper!

Thanks in advance :)

I made this ant for a lab friend working on ants

My new Ant colony

I live in an apartment.
Our place has been over ridden with ants all of a sudden.
We own 3 cats, I feel bad but I had to use raid on some of my base boards. I don’t know where they are coming from. We aren’t dirty people, the ants came and don’t seem to be going anywhere but they are just there.
I’m looking for a solution to get rid of them.
They come when it’s hot.
We’ve tried to ask the apartment place to spray pesticides but it doesn’t do anything. Any solutions or suggestions?? I’d appreciate it, I’m sick of dealing with them.

What is your guys experience with Esthetic ants mesh nest. Just wanted to see you guy’s opinion

Around 3-4 days ago I got bit by an ant picking a flower, and it has been swelling since, and hasn’t gone down, am I okay?

Does anyone have any tips on how to capture queens that are a 10 minute drive away? Like know when they are having their nuptial flight when you arent really there
Do i just ball it???
Because im hoping to snatch some formica fusca queens that are a 10 minute drive away but i only have lasius niger in my garden.

this ant was IMPOSSIBLE to capture it was REALLY skittish and probably had good eyesight. once we finally captured it, i put it in the fridge (assuming it would become still, like lasius niger does) and then after that tried to photo it out of its box since the plastic makes it blurry. IT BOLTED OUT!!! i try to put it in a clearer glass test tube i usually use for queens. IT BOLTS AGAIN and then finally i get it in the test tube and it still isnt that good quality!!! im guessing formica fusca?
the blue grid i use is a 2mm grid, so im guessing its 6mm

https://reddit.com/link/1v2t24n/video/f1crlgmjzmeh1/player

I’ve been seeing these ants enjoying the meadowsweet growing in my yard lately. I am thinking they are Formica dolosa, but as I’ve been reading about the species, I’m seeing they are typically solitary foragers. Any thoughts? Location: Montgomery county, Pennsylvania

I'm a real mayor 😎🤙🏻 We provided food and shade for our hardworking ant brothers and sisters 😁 #build 🔶

They are doing well and seemed to have formed a colony together. They laid a large clump of eggs and put them all in one big pile. Going to see how long they can live and if the workers will reject so many queens as this species usually only has 1 queen.

Noticed the huge bulge today when I heard a squirrel messing around under the tarp. Assumed it was a squirrel nest so I just left it, but we ended up poking it and… yeah it’s a giant friggin mound of sand. Sharing cuz it was very fascinating. tomorrow I’ll be moving the rest of the sand and maybe figuring out what’s doing this. and yes I know to be cautious of fire ants.

crazy we didn’t notice this til now; we’re in the yard every day

Ewwww

Hello, I just started a test tube setup for my Trap Jaw queen ant. How frequently do you feed it? and what do you feed it with? Also some tips might help since I am new to this 🙏

I'm very curious, and before you say "oh, you could've looked it up, blah blah," personally, I like personalized responses when I'm asking casual questions like this. I'd love it if someone could educate me. Anywho while observing I noticed that they will do it several times with the same ant if they 'mess' up or fall out of place in some type of way.

Noticed this happening on my spruce tree. I’m in North Eastern Ontario

These are the best pictures I can get at the moment. Found in extreme Southwest Pennsylvania. It's in a 20mm tube, and I put notebook paper behind it for size reference.

She was drowning in my office building’s kitchen sink so I scooped her up in a plastic cup. I gave her a drop of honey. Is this a native species or an invasive? Flosser for scale lol location is Jacksonville FL