This insect diversity surprised scientists, who discovered the many ants living on street medians in New York City, the United States' largest metropolis.

Just like human New Yorkers, the ants are a jumble of personalities, from the tiny thief ant—which, as the name suggests, feeds its colonies with stolen food—to the street-smart pavement ant, a fiercely territorial insect that nests under cement. (See ant pictures in National Geographic magazine.)

Though most of the species are native to North America, the team also found a few foreign species living peacefully among the locals, likely having hitched a ride to the Big Apple in soil from potted plants