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this is a very big found at RSPB Arne in Dorset. There were thousands of them on the floor, up trees, hence my jeans were tightly tucked into my socks and i never stood still....
Conopid fly?
I thought these flies were rather cute until I read a bit about them:
Most conopids are found around flowers where they mate and lay their eggs directly onto the abdomens of Social insects such as ants, bees and wasps.
"The larvae develop first by feeding on haemolymph and in their last instar attack the tissue of the thorax, weakening and then killing the host. Pupation takes place in the abdomen. "
More about these flies at eol.org/data_objects/2052008
The Bullet Ant (Paraponera clavata) is named because the sting has been compared to that of being shot. The pain inflected by this ant’s sting is claimed to be more painful than any other insect – it even is ranked higher than that of a tarantula hawk wasp’s sting. The pain has been reported as continuing in waves for up to 24 hours [another name for this ant is the “24 (hour) ant”]. Colonies of several hundred individuals are usually found near the base of trees. Great care is taken to avoid this ant at all cost since a single sting can end your vacation. I love ants – in fact it is one of the reasons I enjoy the tropics as much as I do. In one study in Panama the average number of ants in a square meter of forest-litter was 680 and 35 to 240 per square meter in the canopy. Ants rule the tropics – they are the main predators and the main herbivores. I often kid my birder friends that I can tell how biological diverse the area we are staying in by the number of ant species I find in the bathroom. My friends did keep their distance while I got close enough to take a macro photo of this ant but I was careful – yes I love ants but some are best to be enjoyed at a distance. La Selva Biological Field Station, Costa Rica.
There is a partially exposed tunnel of an ant colony in the backyard. They move very fast up and down this trench while removing pebbles their own size, twigs, and grass. Others bring in food. I am curious to see if they will leave this passage exposed or if they will re-engineer the area further.
It is very cool, because I get to watch them in action. Sometimes they have traffic jams that are sorted out in micro-seconds. The biggest challenge when photographing ants is how fast they move. They are blurry even at a 1/800 second shutter speeds. I wish I had a real macro lens.
While I was trying to focus on the waterdrop in the immediately preceeding picture I became aware of some movement to the right of the drop, so I fiddled with the focus and here was Mr Ant kindly popping up at just the right moment to make this my picture of the day shot.
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