Parade day during the Allegan County Fair just so happened to apparently coincide with “Flying ant day,” an informal term for the day on which queen ants emerge from the nest to begin their nuptial flight.
Monday night, while people lined the streets and piled into the fairgrounds, they were engulfed by flying queen ants and smaller male ants flying after them.
Local DNR wildlife biologist Mark Mills said he guessed Allegan was experiencing the nuptial flight phenomena and sent along a link to the following information.
Nuptial flight is a term used for the phase in the reproduction of most ant, termite, and some bee species. During the flight, virgin queens scatter to mate with males. After mating, they drop to the ground, where they lose their wings and attempt to start a new ant colony.
The mass of flying insects often attracts the attention of predators such as birds, so at least it was lucky for parade goers they didn’t get dive bombed by hungry birds.
“Flying ant day” is a phenomenon that occurs in many colonies simultaneously when local weather conditions are appropriate, to reduce the effectiveness of predation, and to ensure that the queens and males from different colonies stand a chance of meeting and interbreeding.
It has the appearance of being a timed event or that the ants somehow communicate. However neither of these is likely to be the case. It is simply a common response to temperature, humidity and wind speed and time of year—which was fair parade day.
Virginia Ransbottom can be contacted at vransbottom@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.
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