I have had two different species farm aphids in my garden- one was the common (and mostly unwanted) carpenter ant. The other was a small species, reddish abdomen and black everywhere else, workers generally about 5-7 mm long, likes burrowing in old wood, beloved of flickers in the neighborhood. I've also seen in the woods harvester thatch ants that make the big thatch piles farming ants in honeysuckle vines. I know the carpenters were very good at returning aphids to the red-flowering currants I was trying to keep them off of. The others I simply observed, so I don't know if they were moving aphids around or just taking advantage of colonies that showed up in their territory. Brett Johnson Green Man Gardens bnbjohns@comcast.net
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