You could Dr. Francis Ratnieks at the University of Sheffield.  He
does an awful lot of work on ants, bees and wasps.

His e-mail address is : f.ratnieks@sheffield.ac.uk

Hope this helps,

GAz.

What kind of ants are you marking, we've used an acryllic (spelling?) based
paint with leaf cutter ants and it seemed to work fine, however when we
tried this with bala ants, we discovered that they clean it off, so we went
to finger nail polish, it seemed to last longer, and didn't seem to affect
the ants at all.  Regardless, you shouldn't use to much of either to mark,
as you can effect the ant's respiration if you do.  Hope this helps.
Joseph Gabrielli

You might also consider using a thin colored tie wire.


George Melikian

Date sent:  21-FEB-1996 19:10:35
>
>Hello all,
>
>Could anyone recommend a method for labelling individual ants in a colony?
>Marking with chalk probably won't last very long. Can fingernail polish be
>used, or is this too toxic? Any suggestions?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Karen Cianci
>Department of Biology
>Houghton College
>Houghton, NY
>kcianci@houghton.edu
>Karen Cianci
>Department of Biology
>Houghton College
>Houghton, NY
>kcianci@houghton.edu

 Try using the same method they used to label bees when researching the
"nectar dance." I'm not sure exactly what was in the pigment, but the bees
were marked with various dyes using a small paintbrush. This was a fairly
famous experiment, so what they used for the dyes is no doubt in your local
library.



 Marc

Marc E. Apple
41C Whiteface Hall
SUNY Plattsburgh
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
appl1873@snyplava.bitnet (Bitnet)
appl1873@splava.cc.plattsburgh.edu (Internet)

Hello all,

Could anyone recommend a method for labelling individual ants in a colony?
Marking with chalk probably won't last very long. Can fingernail polish be
used, or is this too toxic? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Karen Cianci
Department of Biology
Houghton College
Houghton, NY
kcianci@houghton.edu
Karen Cianci
Department of Biology
Houghton College
Houghton, NY
kcianci@houghton.edu

karen cianci (kcianci@HOUGHTON.EDU) wrote:
: Could anyone recommend a method for labelling individual ants in a colony?
: Marking with chalk probably won't last very long. Can fingernail polish be
: used, or is this too toxic? Any suggestions?

When I marked wood ant queens, I used a type of ink that drafters use..I 
wish I could remember the name...it comes in little tubes.  It was great 
for individually marking ants..and it wasn't groomed off.  If you think 
you might use this, I could look in my files for the name.
Sue Philhower
Dept. Zoology
North Carolina State University
sue_philhower@ncsu.edu

In article <199602211610.LAA25563@osme.houghton.edu>,
   karen cianci <kcianci@HOUGHTON.EDU> wrote:

>Could anyone recommend a method for labelling individual 
>ants in a colony?

depends on the size of the ant, how long you want the mark 
to last and how much time you want to spend marking.  

Fluorescent dusts will work for up to a week, they're easy 
to apply but to reidentify the marked ants you need to kill 
or anaesthetize them, and examine them by microscope under a 
UV source - tedious. Enamel paints are effectively 
permanent, easy to see and identify afterwards and can be 
applied to ants down to 3-4mm but it's very tedious and time 
consuming to apply.  If the ants are big enough and you 
think the effort worth while you could try the barcoding 
strips used for honey bees.  These can be read directly into 
a computer and would allow automatic recording of 
individules passing along a trail (for example).


Andrew

Andrew Davis
University of Leeds, Yorkshire
England, LS2 9JT   UK

a.j.davis@uk.ac.leeds

Hi
    I used to share an office with a fellow graduate student who ran
ants through mazes.  He used nail polish -- different colors and
different locations.
   Good luck.
        Lois TepperLois M. Tepper, Ph.D.
Psychology Department
Long Island University, Southampton, NY 11968

karen cianci <kcianci@HOUGHTON.EDU> writes:

>Could anyone recommend a method for labelling individual ants in a colony?
>Marking with chalk probably won't last very long. Can fingernail polish be
>used, or is this too toxic? Any suggestions?

People use model aeroplane enamel paints. Testor (US) and Humbrol (UK) are usually quoted. 
IMO Humbrol are significantly better. Add a small quantity of thinners.
I apply the stuff to wasps using a toothpick. For smaller animals a small
entomological pin is good, below that an eyelash in a matchstick!
Some ants have a low tolerance for marking - e.g. Oecophylla smaragdina
where the animal goes berserk, and after it calms down mutual grooming 
colony members tear off the paint usually dismembering the marked animal
in the process

Richard Rowe