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Ants are well organized and so dangerous for many predator species. Therefore, the huge red and black ants will be given a huge berth by these insectivores in general to avoid severe retaliation as a team. This is noted by other vulnerable predators.
Therefore, the tiny predators that are also prey to larger predators try to mimic (imitate) the ants. They get the black colors and often have the attributes of the ants to be safe.
In this case, the praying mantis that is also an insect, imitates by being the same length, color and having segments of the large black ants. Only their weird antennae and well armed forelegs (first of the 3 pairs of legs) give away the fact that this is a prowling predator!
This female Ant-eating Chat is on a termite mound where the Aardvark had eaten out the termites. It nests in the burrows of the termite. Male Ant-eating Chats have a small white carpal patch.
The ant house was amazingly done. They made some white stuff to stick the leaves together and form a cocoon.
I haven't spent much time trying to photograph or identify ants. I suspect it is well beyond me. I thought these ants especially pretty with their stripes. I always find it interesting how they tend their little "flocks" so carefully.
I think this 'liitle' one is a bull ant Myrmecia pyriformis though I can't be certain I am quite sure it is a Myrmecia spp.
I have made additional changes to my flash diffuser which are perhaps less evident here but are noticeable. It is a little bit funny to think I have quite an expensive camera set-up and then I have a diffuser made out of: the cut up plastic container of a 50CD stack, baking paper, the cut off end of two moisturiser containers (which I bought and emptied specifically for the purpose, my flash smells very nice! lol), the aluminium of two empty soft drink cans and a hell of a lot of duct tape!
It all seems to be coming together :o)
This ant would just stand motionless, waiting for a smaller ant to walk by, and then it would attack.
Ants and Aphids. That symbiotic relationship. Ants gather the honeydew and in return the Aphids get some protection from predators.
Ants excavate clay-rich soil as they build their subterranean nest.
Finca Las Piedras, Madre de Dios, Peru
A lone black ant queen. Not sure what she was doing out all by herself. No sign of other flying ants.
Ants crawling on the buds of peonies. These peonies are over 100 years old, originally my grandmother's in Illinois.
Ants. I think the front one was hurt or something. He didn't move for a long time. Looked kinda paralyzed.
The ants and termites come out en masse at night (by contrast, we barely saw any ants or termites during the day) and form massive highways going to and fro.
Check out the above picture of the biology of an ant.
To find out more about ants or ant biology, please visit www.antinstitute.com
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than 12,500 out of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified.They are easily identified by their elbowed antennae and a distinctive node-like structure that forms a slender waist.
Daddy won an Ant Farm at the Homeschool Conference from Timberdoodle. After looking aound online they really do have the lowest price I could find. $24 for the ant farm and illuminated base together.