Lasius niger, Leaf Cutting Ant Nemesis

[Acromyrmexbob]

A couple of years ago I released several colonies of Atta into my greenhouse to forage and establish nests. This would help keep plants controlled also. Then Lasius niger introduced me to the language barrier that ants seem to suffer from when talking to ants from different continents. Specifically in the tropics when army ants or other predatory ants come calling the first interaction between the colonies is that the soldiers from each side test each other out and if each colony is big enough there will be a stand off. The Atta form a line and the invaders will stop short at this line and often tuen around. When some worker Lasius niger ants got close to a reasonably large Atta colony the Leaf Cutters did what they always do. The soldiers turned out and formed an orderly line between the Lasius and the nest entrance. To me, my dog and the Atta, this looked an improbable mismatch. The huge soldiers were arrayed in formidible defensive formation, the tiny Lasius were massively out gunned. Unfortunately no one thought to tell the Lasius this. So they poured over the soldiers and killed them. They poured into the Atta nest, killed everything in there and stole all of the brood. The moral of this story is, I think, we Europeans are tougher than them there foreigners! Or it could be that everyant in the tropics takes it for granted they are going to get a kicking from the Atta so they don't try their luck whereas the Lasius had no previous experienced and discovered they were in fact pu**es!
Similarly, Lakeland Wildlife Oasis, some years ago, lost a huge colony of Leaf Cutters in exactly the same circumstances, Lasius raided and destroyed them. You have been warned!