Mysteries of the Insect World

Belle, it means that they’ve adopted you as their queen. The good news is that your cooking days are over – they deliver. The bad news is on the reproductive front…. :)

Were they facing towards Rome, perchance?

Some nice person has put up exactly the quote from Joy in the Morning that I seek!

Edwin was saying that they were members of the Hymenoptera family and self replying, “Well, well. Quite the nibs, eh?”
“They are characterized by unusual distinctions of three regions of the body-head, thorax, and abdomen-and by the stack or petiole of the abdomen moves very freely on the trunk of the thorax.”
“You wouldn’t fool me?
“The female, after laying her eggs, feeds the larvae with food regurgitated from her stomach.”
“Try to keep it clean, my lad.”
“Both males and females are winged.”
“And why not?”
“But the female pulls off its wings and runs about without them.”
“I question that. I doubt if even an ant would be such an ass.”
“It’s quite true. It says so in the book. Have you ever seen ants fight?”
“Not that I remember.”
“They rise on their hind legs and curve the abdomen.”

And, to my consternation and chagrin, whether because it was his intention to illustrate or because he found his squatting position cramping to the limbs, this was just what he did himself. He rose on his hind legs, and stood facing me, curving the abdomen-at the exact moment when I perceived Florence emerging from the house and walking briskly in our direction.

(Click the link to see why Bertie was chagrined and consternated.)

Librarian here, skimming Holldobler and Wilson’s The Ants (tremendous reference book). A raised abdomen is typically an aggressive display. The ants could be assembling to raid a rival colony. If so they might be spraying pheromones to confuse and subdue the rival. Or they could be assembling to fend off a raid by a rival colony–alien workers may recently have traipsed through the area, laying down some funk, drawing a line in the sand as it were. It seems likely the group you saw has its nest within the wall.

I don’t know that an interpretation of combat readiness squares with the amount of time you witnessed the behavior, and I’m not sure you can rule out an exercise in temperature regulation, given the group’s relatively calm demeanor. Apparently ants sometimes mass for the hell of it.
Were their mandibles opening and closing? If so could lend weight to an offensive or defensive purpose.

The last time I lived in a place with breeder swarms we just ate the darn things. You pluck off the wings, put them in a skillet over a high heat and wait till they stop running around. They taste kind of like pecans, as I recall. Your mileage may vary, of course, as I suspect that you’re dealing with a different species.

Proving once again Darwins common ancestor theory, you can bet they were either fighting, feeding or fucking.

Teflon tape? That’s brilliant. It’s teflon. Yet it sticks! I wonder if that is how they get it to stay on the frying pans.

Be mindful. Doesn’t Singapore impose a fine for failing to clean up after one’s ants?

Tritto on Hölldobler and Wilson. Love the thing myself, but some might find that it is to ants what Moby Dick is to whales: it will tell you more about them than you wanted to know (unless perhaps you are an entomologist). If that’s the case, you might prefer their Journey to the Ants, which is addressed more to curious laity than to the priesthood. Alas, I have nothing to add to what blueshoe and Danny Yee say about the belly-waving, other than to suppose the behaviour might facilitate dispersal of chemical alarm and aggression signals (ants make much use of such signals).

A woman once complianed to Ed Wilson that her house had been invaded by ants, and asked him what she should do about it. ‘Get a magnifying glass,’ was his advice (and no, I don’t think he was suggesting she ignite them with concentrated sunlight). I envy you your exotic infestors. We suffered an ant invasion one year, but it was plain boring old Lasius niger. I did hold a few up to the loupe (which is how, with the help of Stresemann’s Exkursionsfauna, I was able to determine the species). Didn’t burn any of them, though.