An ant species new to Britain has been found and could well become established

An ant species new to Britain Tapinoma pygmaeum (Dufour 1857) has been found in Royston Herts. They seem to be thriving and have several nests with many queens in a private garden and have also been seen in two other gardens with one being 200m away. The resident, a professional gardener, recognised some very small black ants in his garden as something special about 5 years ago. It was only when he posted some photos and notes on the UK Bees, Wasps and Ants FaceBook page that interest was piqued. Samples were requested and some sent to Bernhard Seifert in Germany who kindly identified them as T. pygmaeum. These ants are native to southern Europe and their presence here is likely a consequence of global warming. However as they have been thriving outdoors in Royston for 5 years or more it seems very likely that they could turn up elsewhere in Britain so please keep an eye out for them.