tts.alexius
Active member
This is the story of a hidden ant species that has been living in New York for more than ten years, and which scientists recently managed to discover. Often referred to as the ‘ManhattAnt’, this quite literally is just that — a species of Lasius emarginatus originally from Europe, which manages to get on surprisingly well in the concrete jungle. Initially observed in 2011, the ManhattAnt has rapidly grown and become the second most widespread ant in NYC and, moreover, in the vicinity. It also lacks supercolonies like other invasive ants but it has its productivity being maximized leveraging from honeydew collected from tree bugs. It is not toxic to man but its effects to the environment is what the researchers are closely observing since it is fast dominating the continent. 

