Tumaren

James, on 16 Dec 2007

Thanks Jeean-michel,
since posting this i have met several others who have seen this species consuming insects. interesting. are you aware if this species harvests the seeds itself normally or a fungus that grows on the seeds (like leaf-cutter ants in south america) ?

Delia Reed, on 30 Apr 2008

Well, here in Lassen County (California, northeastern high desert , upper Great Basin)these things are a big pest. We call them fire ants, though they don’t have tall mounds like their cousin, they burn like fire when they bite you, and they are aggressive. They are harder than heck to get rid of. Boilig water is the only solution, but you need 20 gallons of it because their nestsw are quite expansive underground. We don’t like to use poisons on anything as we have chickens and cats and other loose animals. But I have resorted to gasoline, lit gasoline, bleach, toilet acid, rubbing alcohol, digging them up, standing over them with a torch, etc. They march off with my chicken feed and seeds when I am trying to establish a stand of pasture. They are meat eaters. Or I guess omnivores. Opportunists would be a good description. And I have found more than one queen in the hill. That’s the hardest part about getting rid of them. I have dug up the nest to torch them and I’l see many queens coming out, so they just start over if I miss one.

Chris, on 29 Sep 2008

Many harvester ants are native to the US and most are non aggressive. There is really no reason to exterminate them, as they do not enter human dwellings. Messor harvesters can’t sting the way their Pogonomyrmex cousins can.