Ants living in my Sarracenia?

[SerMuncherIV]

Today, I noticed a great deal of ants swarming about my Sarracenia. I was very surprised when I peered into an old purpurea pitcher from last year, and found this!

It appears that my collection has been colonized by a group of Tetramorium caespitum. (Any ant taxonomists out there to confirm this?) Has this happened to anyone else before?

 

[Not a Number]

That is fascinating. Ants herd aphids so keep an eye out for those.

 

[SubRosa]

I get lots of ant colonies in my bog. I think the sand/peat mix makes for easy digging.

 

[theplantman]

Neat. Free food! Interesting how they took soil into the pitcher as nesting material.

 

[collin]

That's awesome. There may be a mutualistic relationship; I'd be curious to know whether the ant's food sources helped to drive prey to other pitchers.

 

[SFLguy]

I think that's what they do in the wild too