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I don't know the species of either of these, but it was fascinating to watch the ants work together to move their victim around. It was too big to go into the hole, and I was curious about where they would take it and what they would do with it, but we had to move on.
I'm not exactly sure what is happening here but I'm guessing that the spider (which is laying upside down and covered in what looks like webs) was killed by something else and the ants just took advantage of a free meal. Photographed in Maryland today.
Momiji Commemorative Garden is a memorial for the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II.
Hastings Park, Hastings-Sunrise, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
"Nature, red in tooth and claw..."
I really don't have any idea what is going on here... I was shooting the ant, and thought that the black patch at the base of the leaf was mold. The ant had had his head in the scrum, and then backed up on the stem, stopping to stand on his hind legs and wave his forelegs and antennae. The ant has a pair of legs and part of an abdomen coming out of his mouth...
The other insects look l,ike very small beetles to me, possibly with a dead bee or other winged insect at the bottom of the pile.
I am hoping that some of the naturalists among us, such as David Nice, can provide some thoughts...
A tiny winged ant flew into the picture when I was looking at some of our flowers. :) I guess they like pollen too. Have a great Monday and week ahead!
This dead ant is caught in the remaining web hanging off the mushroom. Looking up under a dead branch near the mushroom I was just shooting and noticed this scene.
Smile on Saturday: Anything with A
The Southern Meat Ant (Iridomyrmex purpureus) is endemic to Australia. It was described by British entomologist Frederick Smith in 1858. It is among the best-known species of ant found throughout mainland Australia. Its enormous distribution, aggression and ecological importance have made this ant a dominant species. It is characterised by its dark-bluish body and red head. It is a medium to large species; workers and males are approximately the same sizes at 6–7 mm and 8 mm, respectively. The queens are the largest and appear mostly black, measuring 12.7 mm. The iridescence in workers ranges from green or blue to plain green and purple, varying in different body parts and castes. Meat ants inhabit open and warm areas in large, oval-shaped mounds that are accompanied by many entrance holes. The nest area is always cleared of vegetation and covered with materials including gravel, pebbles and dead vegetation. They are also polydomous, where a colony may be established in a series of satellite nests connected by well-defined paths and trails. Satellite nests are constructed away from the main nest and nearby areas with valuable food sources so workers can exploit them.
Queens mate with a single male and colonies may have more than one queen until the workers arrive, where they both exhibit antagonism. It takes around one or two months for an individual egg to develop into an adult. Colonies range in size, varying between 11,000 individuals to over 300,000. The meat ant is a diurnal species (active throughout most of the day), especially when it is warm. It forages on trees and collects sweet substances such as honeydew and nectar, and also captures insects or collects the remains of animals. A number of predators eat these ants, including the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), numerous species of birds, blind snakes and spiders. Meat ants establish territorial borders with neighbouring colonies and solve disputes through ritualised fighting.
Meat ants play an important role in both the environment and for humans. A single nest is capable of dispersing over 300,000 plant seeds; moreover, meat ants have formed symbiotic relationships with many insects. This ant may be used as a form of pest control to kill the cane toad, an invasive species. They can also help farmers to remove animal carcasses by consuming and reducing them to bones in a matter of weeks.
Lake Moodemere, Rutherglen, Victoria
Ant, Syrup and an Aphid - Experimenting with the closest macro I can muster out of my camera equipment. Ever use pancake syrup to attract ants? It works great if you want ants. The Aphid just so happened to land in the syrup. After the ants consumed all the syrup then the Aphid was free to walk off his island... unless of course an ant ate him.
I saw these two ants caring for a "clutch" of some other unknown insect nymphs on the stem of an Aspen tree.
Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labour, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television.
-Lewis Thomas-
(This is a very cropped photo, not a macro...best in Large)
Thanks for your visit and taking the time to comment so I can visit your photos, too... very much appreciated! Have a great day!
This tiny ant was so weird, I thought I had found an ant-mimic spider. I went to get my macro adapter for more magnification. By the time I got back, my new bug loving friend had gotten a good enough look to figure out it was an ant. We spent at least ten minutes looking at the Texas Ebony tree this ant lived in. Lots of tiny stuff when you look close at the right tree.
These tree-dwelling ants are able to parachute and steering their fall if they drop off their tree so are also called gliding ants.
Cephalotes texanus
Yes, I took that little piece of art work inside of a dead tree and put it with some rock crystals...
I haven't really paid any attention to Ant lately because I've been losing interest in her. I buy animation but rarely shop for skin and stuff like that.
I wonder what happens to avatars when they are forgotten?
A tough looking ant that I photographed at Lake Waterford Park in Maryland. It definitely stood it's ground with me. Which allowed me to get some great photos.
Taken on a hot June afternoon when aphids were in abundance on some kind of wild vine that seems to grow everywhere in Massachusetts. I'm pretty sure it's some kind of invasive species... grows like Kudzu. Several varieties of ants were tending the aphids, doing their usual antennae tapping to persuade the aphids to dispense droplets of honeydew. Some ants would pass a droplet to another, maybe "teaching" less experience younger ants what the process was all about.
Taken while experimenting with a pair of objectives that had recently been scavenged from two damaged lenses, a 90-230mm Soligor, and a 80-200 Nikon. The Soligor objective was mounted reversed on a Nikon 105mm f/2.5 AI-S lens, with the Nikon 80-200mm reverse mounted on the Soligor. Lighting provided by a small speelight flashed through a diffuser made from the bowl that comes in a frozen dinner.
DSC-9483