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I suppose there is some sort of nectar or other secretion on the stigmas, from the ants' behavior.

BTW...
I saw another interesting behavior in Prenolepis last Saturday around mid-day, when it was quite warm here, but cloudy and windy. Numerous workers and alates of both sexes emerged from a nest during a brief break in the clouds and started climbing up leaves, stones, etc. Then the clouds closed up, and the climbing stopped, and then the males began trying to mate with their sisters. This is not all that unusual in ants when mating flights are interrupted, but the interesting thing was that in this case, the workers would not let it happen. In each of the half dozen or so cases, workers went right to the copulation attempt, grabbed the males by the limbs, tore them away from the female, and killed them. A very striking example of what Hoelldobler and Wislon (in The Superorganism) might call policing behavior.

I was kicking myself for not having the camera with me!

Oh well, here's a blurry picture of Formica pallidefulva, taken yesterday. They're quite fast. I felt lucky this one was still for a moment.

I lifted a small, flat stone this afternoon and found these little girls, Monomorium minimum, with "oodles" of queens.