An Encounter with Desert Runner Ants (Cataglyphis niger) in Dubai

A desert runner ant exhibiting its characteristic upwards folded abdomen

Ant workers emerging from their sand cavern

Ant defenders in formation at the colony entry way

On the move again.. with the threat gone, back to foraging!

Ant workers leaving the nest to forage in the open desert 

The sun was just beginning to emerge, its another early morning desert expedition! This time I was exploring the desert area between Dubai Academic City and Silicon Oasis. A feature that caught my attention was the distinguishable cavern in the sand guarded and constructed by an awesome assemblage of ants. These ants were moving in and out of their sandy dwelling unto the open desert to forage with their abdomens folded upwards. Upon detecting my presence, individual ants formed a row of defenders near the entrance to block the other workers from emerging and also to analyze the situation. Amazingly, after a few minutes in defense formation, the ants broke their ranks to march unto the desert sand and continue their day of foraging. 

The Desert Runner Ants, Cataglyphis niger (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE- Formicinae)

The queen of the desert runner ant, has a reddish-brown body and head with black abdomen (gaster), it is 14-15mm long. The male (king), is mainly black in color and measure 10mm long. Workers have reddish brown body and head with black gaster.  

Polymorphism is exhibited among the ant workers. Ant workers length can vary from  5-15mm. 

Worker ants fold their abdomen upwards to avoid touching the hot sand as the ants proceed outside their nest to forage. Amazingly, the ant workers bear ocelli which possess very good vision. The functional ocelli allows these ants to orient themselves unto the position of the sun or the moon in the sky and via polarized light to determine their path back to the nest. These ants can traverse up to 500 meters away from their nest and still find its way back! (That's a truly radical navigation system!)

Workers also have long legs and labial palps and exhibit rapid movement which makes these ants perfectly adapted for the extremely hot desert environments (conditions up to 50°C). Their bodies are composed of unique long-chain cuticular hydrocarbons which allows these ants to be more extreme temperature tolerant. They can forage even during the heat of mid day!

Distribution of the Desert Runner Ants, Cataglyphis niger

These desert ants are widespread in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Oman. Iran and Israel. These ants are reported to be prevalent  as well in the UAE.

Biodynamic Notes

These ants thrive in extreme arid conditions of the desert. They form deep nest in the sand. A nest can be comprised of 200 to 2000 ants. Desert Runner Ants are polygyne, the nest can have  2 to 12 queens. 

A queen have a lifespan of up to 12 years. Unlike the matrimonial process for other ant species, there is no "nuptial flight" for the ant reproductives of Cataglyphis niger. Instead, a "bridal run" occurs, wherein the male ant runs after the potential reproductive females on the ground.  

These ants practice polydomy, a nesting habit whereby the colony is comprised of several nests that extends over a large territory and the workers exhibit continuous movement between nests. This habit enables them to have a larger foraging area. Studies also revealed that these ants can potentially form supercolonies. An ant supercolony is a colony that spans over large territories comprised of a dozen to thousands of nest having no boundaries on the area they cover.  

They are voracious foragers.  Mainly insectivores, they can attack and feed on other ants species and against ants from a different colony. These ants are also necrophagous (they consume dead animals which succumbed to the hot weather) and if available they can feed on fruits and on animal manure. 

These ants are not aggressive to humans and do not sting. 

These ants are such marvelous sight to observed in the heat of the desert sun. Their keen sense of navigation and their endurance is truly awesome. However far the ant worker travels to forage it always finds its way back to the nest! Unlike me who is completely dependent on GoogleMap to travel to and fro my journeys! 

The Desert Runner Ants are truly awesome! Awesome creatures! Awesome CREATOR!

Thanks for your support and careful attention. 

If you need Pest Management Training, Technical Field Support, On-Line and On-Site Consultancy, please feel free to send me an email: odelon.reyes@gmail.com.