View allAll Photos Tagged termite
Termites in rotten wood of a tree hole
Bicentennial Park, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, 2017
It's not unusual to see the huge, endless termite mounds to be decorated in various ways! The mounds in this part of the top end were large, tall and sharply pointed unlike further south where their shape changed.. The soil colour changed in various parts - some more white and sandy depending on the location. But there were millions of them!
It is not unusual to see tree trunks covered in the same red material - an indication the termites are building nearby. The nest themselves are underground and the termite tower is the ventilation shaft!
Podaxis beringamensis. Also known as "Termite powderpuff". On termite mound beside highway between Kuranda & Davies Creek turnoff. This fungus is almost 30 cm tall, they can reach 35 cm. Some interesting information on Wikipedia about this species.
Click mouse on image for closeup detail.
The lack of any eyes make this a little more difficult to compose - what to focus on? The lighting is a gelled backlight, which manages to shine through the entirety of the body.
Spiffy reflections on (and from) the EMP, and some attempt at a nice composition with those dratted safety bars. This one's a tiny bit different, and it came out darker (showing the reflections on the sidewalk better). I can't decide which picture is best.
Ants & termite - Amazonian foothills, Ecuador
Some sort of unidentified ants with an unidentified dead or dying termite.
Peters' dwarf frog (Engystomops petersi) & termites - Yasuni National Park, Ecuador
A juvenile Engystomops overlooks an all you can eat smorgasbord of termites that were expanding their nest. The termite's activity attracted atleast two species of frogs with three individuals relentlessly consuming termites. Other predators were apparent as well such as spider and harvestmen. The frogs all ate many dozens or 100s of termites. However the termite colony will probably hardly notice the loss and daily life will continue as normal.
Dotted Humming frog (Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata) & termites - Yasuni National Park, Ecuador
Sitting by a termite nest watched a pair of peters' dwarf frogs sitting on top of it picking off termites that were constructing their nest... I was surprised to see this 3rd frog hopping out of the dark and across the leaf litter directly towards the nest. It stopped at the edge and began to munch on the termites near ground level. It may not look it but it was voracious and a horribly efficient predator in no time it had eaten dozens of termites and there were none left lower down, it began moving up propping itself up against the nest grabbing termites that were higher up and would have been out of reach otherwise.
The next in my series of steampunk inspired creepy crawlies. More of a generic bug that wasn't initially meant to be a termite, just what it kinda looked like in the end. I'll be posting one each day until I have them all photographed concluding with a group shot of them. Each standard photo will be accompanied by an "in the wild" photograph of them.