Pandan Orange. Oecophylla smaragdina, Orange Gaster or Weaver Ants, Setangi Beach, Lombok, Indonesia
The ripe fruits of the Pandanus tectorius - Pandan laut or Sea Pandan - are bright orange. But this tree trunk has long since lost its gatherings of long, thick, sharply barb-edged 'swords'. It's fruit-bearing days are over too. Now it's the domain of various insects.
Among ants happy with its fallen state are these fascinating Weaver Ants, Oecophylla smaragdina. In this case, though, their abdomens aren't emerald but 'merely' orange. Look, too, at those incisor-jaws. No, they don't bite although they're often confused with red fire ants. Kneeling to watch them and forgetting the time, I got sun-burnt ankles. Perhaps fiery bites would have been less painful...
Pandan Orange. Oecophylla smaragdina, Orange Gaster or Weaver Ants, Setangi Beach, Lombok, Indonesia
The ripe fruits of the Pandanus tectorius - Pandan laut or Sea Pandan - are bright orange. But this tree trunk has long since lost its gatherings of long, thick, sharply barb-edged 'swords'. It's fruit-bearing days are over too. Now it's the domain of various insects.
Among ants happy with its fallen state are these fascinating Weaver Ants, Oecophylla smaragdina. In this case, though, their abdomens aren't emerald but 'merely' orange. Look, too, at those incisor-jaws. No, they don't bite although they're often confused with red fire ants. Kneeling to watch them and forgetting the time, I got sun-burnt ankles. Perhaps fiery bites would have been less painful...