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I found it difficult to find any reliable information on red light vision in ants. Only a handfull of insects have been studied with this respect, among them most intensively the honeybee. From its red-blindness it was often concluded that insects in general are red-blind.
However , in a few butterflies and beetles a sensitivity for red light has been demonstrated, insects that are diurnal.
With respect to color vision (and, of course, vision of polarized light) most studies were made on Cataglyphis species (by Wehner and his group). But in the books and papers of this group I could not find an information on red light sensitivity. In a modern textbook of M. Gewecke, 1995, (Physiology of Insects, in German), with contributions of several renowned insect physiologists, nothing on ants red light vision can be found. Nothing also in the most recent (and, since 1974, only) German textbook on Insects (Lehrbuch der Entomologie, K. Dettner, W. Peters, ed., 2nd edition 2003) again: nothing on ants.
I wonder how Penzlin came to the conclusion that ants can see red light, and I assume that this is an error. I have his textbook at hands, but only the 2nd edition (1977), where I found a couple of errors. Eg, the title of the chapter on color vision says "Das Farbfernsehen", which would be "Color television" .
So: Experimental evidence remains the most reliable sign of red-blindness in (most or all?) ants, they prefer darkness, or dark red light within their nests!

A. Buschinger