NOTE:Images are free to use with proper acknowledgement - "Photo courtesy of Oklahoma State University Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology and/or Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry." If using photographs that are credited to an individual or other entity, please acknowledge same.
Red imported fire ant mounds in a heavily-grazed pasture in Oklahoma. Mounds can become very large and hard, and can damage mowing equipment.
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J. T. Vogt collects foraging fire ants. Digging a trench around a mound exposes the foraging tunnels of the ants, allowing researchers to collect them and examine the food particles they collect.
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Fire ant foragers carrying bits of insect on a foraging trail.
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A fire ant forager carrying a food particle on a foraging trail in OK peanuts.
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Fire ants entering a baited vial used for foraging dynamics studies in Oklahoma.
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New foraging trail construction along a row of peanuts. The ants dig vertical tunnels (the holes surrounded by loose soil) and connect them underground. In the meantime, some foragers can be seen moving along a trail on the surface of the soil.
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Underground foraging trails of fire ants can be exposed by digging a trench around the mound. This colony has reestablished a foraging trail across the bottom of a trench (Photo by Clay Jones).
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As the water levels goes down at Lake Texoma, fire ants begin to construct foraging tunnels to the water's edge. At one site under investigation, the ants construct an average of one foraging tunnel for every 6 feet of shoreline.
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Fire ants can nest under concrete and other materials. Here, a colony has moved soil up through the space at the edge of a cement sidewalk. Quarter shown for scale.
