Messor barbarus Care Guide: The Harvester Ant from Southern Europe

Messor barbarus is one of the most popular ants to keep in Europe, and that is no surprise. These harvester ants collect seeds, turn them into ant bread and have workers in all sizes, from small to very large. In this guide you will read how they live in the wild and how to care for them at home.

The spread of Messor barbarus via antmaps.org

Where does Messor barbarus come from?

You find Messor barbarus around the Mediterranean, where it is very common. On the open plains of Spain you can see long columns of workers collecting seeds. Because the species is so popular, it has ended up with ant keepers all over the world, but it has not settled anywhere in the wild as an invasive species.

Messor barbarus made the news when customs in the Philippines intercepted a box full of these ants. Because they could have harmed the local nature there, the ants were destroyed. A good reminder never to send ants somewhere without checking the rules, and never to release them.

DENR National Capital Region takes custody of smuggled ants

How do they live in the wild?

Messor barbarus major carrying a seed.

Messor barbarus owes its popularity to one thing: it eats seeds. The workers find seeds, crack them open and chew the soft inside into a kind of paste, the ant bread. With it they feed each other, the queen and the brood. In long columns they walk to the seeds and drag them back to the nest. After rain they often carry the seed remains outside and pile them up near the entrance. In the wild they live in the ground, and colonies can grow to thousands of ants.

They mostly live in open, warm and flat places in the lowlands: wasteland, vineyards, along roads and paths, but also in gardens, parks and between paving stones. The nest lies directly in the ground or under a large stone. When the colony is active, the entrance is often littered with seeds and sand grains. Their trails are remarkably wide and busy, real highways to the places where the seeds are. The seeds are stored in chambers just below the surface. The large workers crack them with their strong mandibles, and the pieces are then chewed with saliva into a soft mass. A young queen starts her colony entirely on her own, and such a colony can grow to several thousand workers.

How to recognise them

Messor barbarus has a red head and a smooth, shiny black body. The head can be light or dark red, almost black even, but there is always some red in it. If an ant has no red on its head at all, it is not Messor barbarus. Workers vary a lot in size, from small workers to large majors with a huge head and strong mandibles, roughly 4 to 12 mm. In the large workers the head is usually a lighter red than in the small ones. The queen is roughly 12 to 14 mm, which makes her one of the larger ants in Europe.

You can confuse them with a few other Messor species. Messor capitatus never has red on its head, and the back part of its thorax (the propodeum) is angular. In Messor barbarus it is nicely rounded. Messor bouvieri is completely black and does not grow larger than 8 mm. The workers of Messor minor also stay under 8 mm and have red on the thorax.

The nuptial flight

Messor barbarus flies late in the year, usually from September to November and sometimes even in winter. The young queens go into winter without workers, and the first workers arrive in spring. That way the colony can get going right at the start of the season.

Peace and quiet matter most

Messor barbarus is easy to care for, but it has one weak spot: these ants get stressed quickly. Too much stress can even cost the queen her life. Luckily that is easy to prevent. Put your ants in a quiet place without vibrations. A desk or cabinet that you use often is not a good spot. We keep Messor barbarus in the light ourselves, so you can watch them without having to remove a cover every time. That saves even more unrest.

Winter rest

Messor barbarus takes a rest in winter. Put the colony in a cooler place for a few months. It does not have to be cold, a little cooler than usual is enough. You can also keep them at room temperature all year, but a winter rest is said to be better for the queen.

Food: seeds and water

Messor barbarus eats seeds. The ants build their own stock and take from it whenever they are hungry. So you do not need to feed often, just check whether there are still enough seeds left. Give a varied seed mix. They will happily eat insects too, but they do not really need them. Sugar water is not needed either. Water is: Messor barbarus drinks a lot, so make sure there is always water. Read more about feeding in What do ants eat?.

Warmth and humidity

They do fine at room temperature. If you want them to grow faster, heat one side of the nest so the colony can choose a warm spot itself. The brood needs a moist spot to develop well. Large colonies cope with this better, but always give small colonies a moist corner. The trick is to keep the seeds dry and the brood moist, because wet seeds go mouldy.

Nest and outworld

Choose a nest with a moist and a dry side, such as a Ytong nest. The ants will put their brood in the moist part and the seeds in the dry part. Messor barbarus likes to roam in search of seeds, so give them a slightly bigger outworld than you would give another species of the same colony size. How fast the colony grows differs per colony and depends mostly on warmth and peace. With a little extra warmth it can go fast.

Ready to start?

Want to keep Messor barbarus? Have a look at our Messor barbarus colonies, or start with the Ant Keeping Starter Set, which has everything you need. Below you can watch a video about Messor barbarus. Comparing species? Read Messor cephalotes vs Messor barbarus or our Messor structor care guide.

Sources

• DENR National Capital Region. DENR NCR takes custody of smuggled ants.

• Wikipedia. Messor barbarus.

• AntWiki. Messor barbarus.

• Lebas, C., Galkowski, C., Blatrix, R. and Wegnez, P. Ants of Europe field guide (Dutch edition: Veldgids Mieren van Europa, KNNV Uitgeverij).