Scale Explorer

Animals

How big is a black garden ant?

Ant (black garden ant) · Worker of the black garden ant, Lasius niger · Lasius niger

Length (worker)
3.4–5 mm 0.13–0.2 in range
Length (queen)
8–9 mm 0.31–0.35 in range
Length (male)
3.5–4.7 mm 0.14–0.19 in range
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Human hair (width), Grain of sand, Ant (black garden ant), Human drawn to the same scaleHuman hair (width): average diameter ≈ 70 µm (too small to see at this scale). Grain of sand: grain diameter (sand size class) 0.0625–2 mm (too small to see at this scale). Ant (black garden ant): length (worker) 3.4–5 mm (too small to see at this scale). Human: height 1.61–1.75 m.Human hair (width): ≈ 70 µm (too small to see at this scale)Grain of sand: 0.0625–2 mm (too small to see at this scale)Ant (black garden ant): 3.4–5 mm (too small to see at this scale)Human: 1.61–1.75 mHuman1.61–1.75 mHuman hair (width)≈ 70 µm · too small to seeGrain of sand0.0625–2 mm · too small to seeAnt (black garden ant)3.4–5 mm · too small to see

Human hair (width), Grain of sand and Ant (black garden ant) are too small to see at this scale and are marked with ▲.

Everything is drawn to the same scale, standing on the same ground line. Silhouettes are simplified outlines scaled to the measured dimension. A faded outline shows the top of a size range.

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Dimensions

MeasurementMetricImperialNotesSource
Length (worker) 3.4–5 mm 0.13–0.2 in Body length of a worker ant. Range: varies [1]
Length (queen) 8–9 mm 0.31–0.35 in Body length of a reproductive queen. Range: varies [1]
Length (male) 3.5–4.7 mm 0.14–0.19 in Body length of a winged male. Range: varies [1]

About the black garden ant

The black garden ant is a small brown-black ant and one of the most familiar ants in European gardens. Its workers, the non-reproductive females seen foraging for most of the year, are about 3.4 to 5 mm long. Winged queens are roughly twice that size, and a colony has a single queen with anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of workers.

  • Winged queens are almost twice the size of the workers. [1]
  • A colony has a single queen and from several hundred up to 10,000 workers. [2]
  • What was long called the common black ant is actually two separate species, Lasius niger and Lasius platythorax, first told apart in 1991. [2]
  • The ants seen outside the nest for most of the year are female workers gathering food; large nests can hold more than 20,000 workers. [3]

How many fit?

  • ≈ 320–510 × Ant (black garden ant) · length (worker) lined up end to end match the Human · height
  • ≈ 49–71 × Human hair (width) · average diameter lined up end to end match the Ant (black garden ant) · length (worker)

Counts divide one sourced figure by another. "End to end" uses each object's main measurement; weight and volume rows appear only when both figures are sourced.

How it compares

  • 49–71× A black garden ant is about 49–71 times as long as the width of a human hair is wide. See side by side
  • 1.7–80× A black garden ant is about 1.7–80 times as long as a grain of sand is wide. See side by side
  • 1/1.3–2.2 A grain of rice is about 1.3–2.2 times as long as a black garden ant. See side by side
  • 1/2–4.4 A honeybee is about 2–4.4 times as long as a black garden ant. See side by side
  • 1/3.8–5.6 A US penny is about 3.8–5.6 times as wide as a black garden ant is long. See side by side
  • 1/320–510 An average adult is about 320–510 times as tall as a black garden ant is long. See side by side

Factors compare the length (worker) of a black garden ant with each object’s own main measurement (height for a human). Where a size varies, the factor is given as a range.

Notes on these figures

  • No university or museum page giving a Lasius niger worker body length could be fetched (AntWiki was blocked by a bot check, the BWARS species account gives no size, and a 2020 body-size study measured only head width). The worker, queen and male lengths come from NatureSpot, a UK biological recording site.
  • The Natural History Museum says queens 'can be up to 15 millimetres long', well above NatureSpot's 8 to 9 mm. The NHM article does not say how that length was measured, so it is not used as a measure.
  • No source with an ant's body mass was found.

Sources

  1. NatureSpot (Leicestershire and Rutland wildlife recording), Small Black Ant - Lasius niger. Accessed 25 September 2026.
  2. Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society (BWARS), Lasius niger. Accessed 25 September 2026.
  3. Natural History Museum, London, Flying ant day: when winged ants take their nuptial flight. Accessed 25 September 2026.

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