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Animal profile

Red Harvester Ant

Pogonomyrmex barbatus

InsectaDesert grassland and arid scrub, with cleared discs of bare ground around the nest entrance

Field profile

The red harvester ant collects and stores seeds in underground granaries. Colonies live for decades under a single long-lived queen and clear a wide bare area around the nest. It is the subject of one of the longest continuous field studies of any social insect.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2024-08-06

Red Harvester Ant

Harvester ants decide to forage by counting contacts

No ant directs the colony. A waiting forager leaves the nest only after enough returning foragers brush antennae with her at a high enough rate, so the outflow of ants tracks the rate of successful returns.

Read with evidence →

Red Harvester Ant | Daily Animal Facts