Q: I am not sure that you are the person who can help me with identifying these ants but I thought I would at least start with you. We noticed the colony on our rain gauge on our deck yesterday.

A: They look like ants but they are not. Entomologist Dan Suiter sorted it out for me: “They might one of two things. First, they could be aphids (not likely: wrong body shape) or second, Hemipterans (true bugs) which have recently hatched. Hemipterans include both plant feeders (stinkbugs, etc.) and beneficial predators (assassin bugs, etc.). I think they’re probably young predatory bugs, eager to find a meal.”

Young predatory bugs

Young predatory bugs on rain gauge