Yellow Meadow Ant Lasius flavus

The Yellow Meadow Ant, also called Yellow Lawn Ant, is native to grassland of Europe, Asia and North Africa. (North America has a different species.)

Workers are 2-4mm long and brownish yellow. The colony forms anthills in meadows and lawns (a small example above right).

Queens (7-9mm) and males (3-4mm) are dark brown. Here workers are helping new winged queens to leave the colony.

They live underground (so have poor eyesight but good sense of smell) and, like some other garden ants, they farm aphids - but on roots of grass - to eat honeydew. They also eat other small insects.