| These are harvester ants and they are not nearly as common as they used to be. The smaller imported fire ants have largely run them off. One of the interesting things about these ants is that they create these highways, where they remove all the bits of grass and leaves to make a smooth path to travel on. These paths can go for hundreds of feet, passing in and out of sight as they wind below the surface of the plants. These ants are industrious, but not neqarly as aggressive as the fire ants. I've also been told that the decline in number of these ants is largely responsible for the decline of the horned toads (a.k.a. "horney toads" but really lizards). Many older people in this part of Texas say you used to see a lot of the horned toads, but now you never see them except occasionally in the much drier parts of the state. |
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