platycryptus:

lookit this ant nest! that’s a lotta larvae, huh

…oh wait

that ain’t children, that’s livestock.

The relationship between ants and aphids or other sap- feeding insects is pretty widely known, but these ants (probably Lasius claviger) rear their root aphids inside their nest, farming them for both honeydew and meat. The ants are pale yellow because they almost never go aboveground, and considering that they’ve been known to eat the “excess” nymphs of their massive aphid herds, they probably don’t have much reason to leave their nest at all.

Root aphids like these aren’t normally found outside Lasius nests, and unlike freeliving aphids they have a special organ for holding honeydew until it’s ready to be milked by an ant.

I found this scene under a sheet of scrap metal, with the aphids left in loose piles with few or no roots available to drink sap from. I’m guessing that the ants moved them under the sun- warmed metal to heat them up and speed their growth and digestion between meals, a trick many ants practice on their larvae.