Smith (1957) reports: In her population studies of soil nesting ants in the Droste Woods, St.Charles County, Missouri, from September to March during the years 1948 to 1953, Miss Mary Talbot found impar to be the most common Stenamma, schmitti; second, and meridionale third. It is surprising that no individuals of brevicorne were taken. She is positive that in many instances she did not collect entire colonies of impar. Colonies or portions of colonies were collected at depths from 4 to 16 inches. Usually only one chamber was found, occasionally there were two. The largest number of workers collected from a colony was 109, the least 5. Only ,one mother queen was found per colony in 4 colonies. It appears from these and other records that most if not all colonies have only a single mother queen. Miss Talbot found that it is common for the larvae to overwinter in the nest; however, a half dozen or less eggs were found in 2 colonies as late as the middle of October. At the time of collection colonies were taken from both dry and damp soils. In the Edwin S. George Reserve in Livingston County, Michigan, Miss Talbot collected winged females and males from a colony on August 13, 1949. In the same locality K. Bohnsack collected 33 workers, 3 alate females and 1male from a colony on August 19, 1949. Although Miss Talbot commonly found the species nesting in the soil, one of our records may indicate that impar also nests in rotten or faulty wood. This species has been collected at altitudes up to 4760 feet.
Talbot (1957) adds her own published account of nests found by excavating soil during the cooler months of the year in a Missouri woodland: Workers were easy to see, for although they were small they were bright colored, were clustered in well defined chambers in firm clay soil and moved slowly when disturbed. Eight collections of complete colonies averaged 108 individuals, of which half were workers. Larvae were overwintered, and a few eggs were still present in November. Chambers were fairly deep in the soil: one was four inches below the surface, but the others ranged from seven to sixteen inches with a mean depth of 10.1 inches. A typical chamber was 1/2 inch long, 3/8 inch wide, and 1/4 inch high, dome-shaped and very smooth. Usually a colony occupied only one chamber.
