Photographed in the Farm Yard behind my brothers's home in Fungalvaz, Portugal. If you look closely you can see the blue sky & white clouds reflected on the Ant's thorax & abdomen.

The black garden ant, also known as the common black ant, is a formicine ant, the type species of the subgenus Lasius, found all over Europe and in some parts of North America, South America, Asia and Australasia. The European species was split into two species; L. niger is found in open areas, while L. platythorax is found in forest habitats. It is monogynous, meaning colonies have a single queen. Lasius niger colonies can reach in size up to around 40,000 workers in rare cases but 4,000..

Susan.