Over the past two days, the reconnaissance team observed several battles between the pavement ant barbarian army and the indigenous ants at close range.
Japanese black brown ants and black-headed sour ants are two ants that the protagonist has never seen before. They also have their own characteristics in fighting methods. The protagonist thinks it is necessary to record them.
This is because the location of the "Bridgehead" is, strictly speaking, an intermediate zone transitioning from plains to dense forests. It is also the environment where these two species of indigenous ants like to inhabit.
Japanese black ants are relatively peaceful in nature, but black-headed ants are a group that likes to move around and do not have a long-term fixed nest. They are likely to wander near the "bridgehead" in the future and conflict with the defenders.
Japanese black ant colonies generally number in the hundreds. They like to nest in dead wood and have strong adaptability. They can accept dry or humid environments, from the slight coolness in the morning to the scorching sun at noon. You can see their busy figures everywhere. Their food habits are also mixed, and sucking various honeydews and hunting are their main food sources.
Fights between Japanese brown ants and pavement ants often break out over competition for honeydew resources.
Almost all ants eat honeydew, and pavement ants are no exception. Because there are many plants that aphids and scale insects like in the area near the woods at the edge of the pavement ant's territory, the pavement ants breed a lot of aphids and scale insects here.
Pavement ants, like big-headed ants, feed aphids and scale insects during the day, then go back to rest at night. This leaves an opportunity for Japanese black brown ants to take advantage of.
Japanese black ants are one of the few ants that can be active at night. They will secretly move aphids released by pavement ants to the vicinity of their nests during the night.
However, over time, the pavement ants discovered that the aphids were missing.
Under the order of the deputy nest king, the pavement ant search team searched around and soon discovered an abnormality near the Japanese black brown ant nest.
The number of Japanese black brown ant colonies is limited and the activity time is long, so there are only a dozen worker ants going out at each time period. Such a small number obviously cannot prevent the investigation of the pavement ant search team.
When the barbarian army of pavement ants who have found the thief's location comes to retaliate, these Japanese black and brown ants will resist. When they find that they are unable to defeat them, the black and brown ants will cover the queen and eggs to break out and find another nest.
The battle between the pavement ant barbarian army and the Japanese black and brown ants is generally boring. The Japanese black and brown ants will rely on flexible steps to wander around the outside of the pavement ant barbarian army's formation, and occasionally rush up to bite them, but they will never fall into it. In the fight, they will continue to attract the Paving Ant Barbarian Army to change their direction, just to contain the actions of the Paving Ant Barbarian Army.
When the queen ants and ant eggs in the nest were almost transferred, these Japanese black and brown ant warriors responsible for containing them immediately fled with slender steps.
The reconnaissance team stopped on a nearby branch and observed the battle in the shadow of the leaves. It lasted for two hours starting from noon. The Pavement Ant Barbarian Army did not take any advantage.
In the end, both sides suffered almost zero casualties. The pavement ants took back their own aphids, and the Japanese black ants also saved the colony. Both sides were satisfied. It was a strange battle.
In comparison, the battle between the sour ants and the pavement ants on the second day was larger and more interesting.
On the first night, the reconnaissance team led by the protagonist stopped high on a tree trunk and got into a natural tree hole to spend the night.
The next day, after the sun had fully risen, the reconnaissance team set off again and witnessed a massive battle.
Under direct sunlight, the surface temperature rises rapidly, and some ants begin to avoid going out when the temperature is high.
But the protagonist discovered that there was an unusually eye-catching black-gray torrent moving forward on the litter layer on the ground.
This torrent is about ten meters long, splitting and converging suddenly, overcoming all obstacles on the ground, and rushing in one direction.
The protagonist lowered the flying height and quickly confirmed that this was an army of black-headed ants.
The heads of these ants are brown, dark brown or black, and the lower body is brown or yellow-white. The two colors are distinct. When grouped together, they appear grayish-white in color.
They are about the same size as pavement ant workers, if not slightly smaller. These small ants have no discomfort with the hot surface. They move quickly and lightly with clear goals.
In front of the dense army of black-headed sour ants, thin lines stretched out, like branch branches. This was the scouts in front who were constantly feeding back military information.
The reconnaissance team flying in the air immediately accelerated and followed the route of the black-headed sour ant scouts, and found the target of their trip - a secondary nest of the pavement ant barbarians near the woods.
This secondary nest is located on the edge of a woodland, surrounded by dense shrubs. There are already sporadic exchanges of fire between pavement ant warriors and black-headed sour ant scouts near the sub-nest.
How dare the black-headed stinky ants take the initiative to provoke and attack the pavement ant barbarian army? This conclusion surprised the protagonist.
There are approximately tens of thousands of black-headed stinky ants in this wave, and the queen ant is among them. She is a full member of the stinky ant tribe. From a numerical point of view, they are not superior to the members of a pavement ant sub-nest. If there is a normal confrontation, both sides will definitely be in a lose-lose situation.
The protagonist can't think of any reason why black-headed ants should pay a huge price to capture a secondary nest of pavement ants.
Ants are real animals. Black-headed sour ants dare to come to the territory of pavement ants, so they naturally have something to rely on.
The protagonist saw that the scouts of the black-headed stink ants had been discovered by the pavement ant warriors. These pavement ant warriors immediately gathered their teams and began to hunt down the black-headed stink ant scouts.
The black-headed sour ant scouts did not fight head-on, but retreated while fighting, flexibly getting rid of the pursuit of the pavement ant warriors.
When they are in a dangerous situation and cannot escape, the black-headed stink ant warriors will spray liquid in all directions. When the liquid splashes on the pavement ants or on the ground, a burst of smoke will rise.
The pavement ant warrior that was shot immediately twisted its body in pain, and the black-headed sour ant scout took the opportunity to escape.
Relying on their unique formic acid weapon, the black-headed stinky ants gained the upper hand in the scouting battle.
The army of black-headed sour ants quickly approached the secondary nest of pavement ants, and their target gradually became clear, which was the aphid pasture near the secondary nest.
The reason why this pavement ant sub-nest was established in this area very close to the woods is because there are a large number of plants that aphids like nearby, and tens of thousands of aphids are grazing among them. These aphids are an irresistible temptation for sour ants, which especially have a sweet tooth.
A large number of black-headed sour ant warriors approached the sub-nest, and the pavement ant warriors in the sub-nest also received an enemy attack alert and swarmed out.
Seeing a big war imminent.
