What is going on between these ants I saw today

[RuinedDrone]

Hi

What is going on here the black ants looked to be starting nuptial flight but way are the yellow ants surrounding them?

Far fewer in number and did not look to be attacking or being attacked.

Once our twice a yellow one would push in to the hole and literally get swallowed up by mass of black ants

[antnest8]

Interesting, the only thing I can think of currently is that the yellow workers are slaves. The black species could go and raid other colonies for food and resources. Any brood they steal would be raised as their own. Some species of Formica do this and it is possible that this colony is of the Formica genus. I also have found that ant's are very intelligent, for example they have their oldest workers go foraging because they have more experience and if they die then it would cost less for the colony since they were already closer to dying anyway. If the yellow ants were slaves that could explain why they are on the outside, they are more expendable and are used as guards.

What do you guys think??

[RuinedDrone]

This is a short clip.

Maybe your correct that would make sense.

https://youtu.be/7_fk0iZ4ZqA