An illustrated guide to seeds found in nests of the Florida harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex badius

Abstract

The Florida harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex badius collects the seeds of many plant species and stores them in underground nest chambers for later consumption. Seeds taken from multiple nests in 1989, 2014 and 2015 were separated by size and species and identified through published keys, comparison with herbarium specimens and with identified seed collections. Harvester ants stored at least 58 species of seeds from 20 plant families in their chambers. This paper presents images of each seed species in several aspects, their relative abundance in P. badius nests, their size relative to the smallest, and links to online data and images of the parent plant species, as well as to herbarium specimens. A number of seeds and plant families present at the site were not found in ant nests. These data and images will be valuable for future studies and experiments to untangle the choices the ants make in relation to what the plants and the seasons offer them.