Monomorium bicolor – The Two-Toned Ant
Monomorium bicolor is a visually striking species, instantly recognisable by its bold two-tone appearance: a jet-black head and gaster contrasted with a vivid red to orange mesosoma. This sharp colour division sets it apart from many other Monomorium species, making it highly attractive both in the wild and in captive collections.
Native to Africa, M. bicolor thrives in warm, open habitats where it forages actively and opportunistically. Workers are small, fast-moving, and highly adaptable, readily feeding on sweet substances such as nectar and honey, as well as proteins like insects. Colonies tend to grow quickly under favourable conditions, often developing into large, bustling nests.
One of the most fascinating traits of M. bicolor is its unusual breeding system. Unlike many ant species that avoid close genetic pairings, M. bicolor has been documented to practise inbreeding within colonies. This behaviour allows new colonies to be founded with limited genetic input, which may give the species an advantage in fragmented or resource-scarce environments where unrelated mates are difficult to find. While inbreeding often leads to genetic weaknesses in other insects, M. bicolor appears well adapted to it, maintaining thriving colonies despite reduced genetic diversity.
In captivity, these ants are popular with hobbyists for their resilience, striking colouration, and fascinating reproductive biology. Their tolerance for inbreeding makes them unusually efficient at colony founding, which in turn contributes to their rapid expansion and hardiness.
Keeping difficulty: Moderate (Kept at least 2 different species)
Colony form: Polygyne
Queen size: 5-6 mm Black and Orange
Worker’s size: 2.5-3mm Black and Orange
Food: honey water and insects
Temp: 24-28°C
Humidity: 50-65%
Founding: claustral without feeding
Colony size: 1-2000 workers (depending on number of queens)
Hibernation: No (diapause for 6-8 weeks is optional from October to March at 15 degrees Celsius)
Live arrival guarantee:
We guarantee the live arrival of your Queen they come well packed in our jiffy bags which have two-sided padding as well as an additional layer of bubble wrap around our test tubes. We are the only company in the United Kingdom to offer our live arrival guarantee of your queen as well as an additional 14-day guarantee if the colony if kept in the original test tube for all our European species. Why do we do this? We are confident with our colony’s health and our packaging process as well as our care guides, we also believe in our customers and making sure they have a good ant keeping experience.
Live arrival guarantee we ensure the live arrival of the queen only upon delivery contact us within 24 hours of receiving the Queen dead on arrival with a picture of the dead queen and the original workers. DO NOT TRANSFER THE DEAD QUEEN OR WORKERS TO A NEST AS THIS VOIDS YOUR WARRNTY. For our additional 14-day guarantee for European species the Queen and workers must be kept in the original test tube sealed with the cotton and care sheet instructions followed if you want to keep this additional guarantee do not transfer to a nest or your warranty is VOIDED (we recommend you keep the 14-day warranty).
We have no control over the environment outside the test tube and have no influence in the conditions the responsibility once placed outside the test tube within the 14-day period the responsibility is with the buyer. 9 times out of 10 colonies die in the nest due to lack of water access, food, temperature, oxygen, or stress due to vibrations or exposure to excess light. If your colony does fail inside a nest contact us, we can advise what went wrong but it is up to you to buy another ant colony, you will succeed but sometimes it does not work the first time. Research is key to success with ant keeping and follow our guides.
