Yellow Meadow Ant Nest | Slide Mouse
The workers are mainly active underground however and not often seen unless the nest is disturbed.
Yellow meadow ant nest. Yellow meadow ants are subterranean meaning that they mostly live in the safety and darkness underground. Yellow meadow ant lasius flavus workers expand the entrance to their nest to allow alates winged ants to leave the nest and mate with alates from other colonies. Lawn nesting will eventually become obvious as the aphids clear sections of grass or portions of gardens. They build a soil dome above the nest which can extend a metre below the ground to help regulate temperature and humidity.
In their small tunnels they hunt for insects. They prefer not to move out in the open visible to the sun and predators. The yellow meadow ant feeds on the honeydew from root aphids which they breed in their nests. Still they may be a nuissance for there are many of them and often you discover sitting in a nest when it is too late.
Like all ants the yellow meadow ant is social and forms colonies. Their nest mounds are commonly seen on in lawns and pastures where they might be as large as a basketball they are typically covered in grass vegetation. Lasius flavus the yellow meadow ant spends most of its time underground. During winter the aphids themselves are sometimes eaten.
A related species lassius brevicornis is found in north america. The species is quite common in europe northern asia and the north east of america. The nests of the yellow meadow ant can be very large indeed containing up to 100 000 individuals. The bite of this animal is not very painful.
The yellow meadow ant also known as the yellow hill ant lasius flavus is one of the most common ants in central europe. The yellow crazy ant anoplolepis gracilipes is an invasive species that has spread from its natural habitat of southeast asia. The yellow meadow ant is familiar to us as the common ant that creates anthills in grassland and downland habitats but also appears in our gardens if the grass is not cut too often.