1030 replies to this topic

[Ernteameise]

 

Some pictures of my beautiful new Camponotus lateralis.

They are an arboreal species from Croatia (Southern Europe) and they live together on the same trees with Crematogaster scutellaris, using the same trails and foraging sites. So this Camponotus has become a mimic of that Crematogaster species.

I apologize that my pictures are not as good quality as most of yours, since I only use my old digital camera.

 

Good enough! My old digital camera was ok when it came to species that were a bit larger. I bought a macro lens for my DSLR when I realized I wanted to take better pics of tiny ants and other things.

When you say "mimic", do you mean it starts looking like the Crematogaster? Or mimic in the general sense?

 

 

These ants mimic Crematogaster. They run along with them, living next to them on the same tree and use their trails. I do not think it is a real mutualistic relationship- it is more like commensalism. The Crematogaster do all the work, they do the scouting and fighting, they form the much larger colonies (thousands of workers), but they are also not directly harmed (so it is not parasitism). These Camponotus form small colonies of up to 200 workers and go foraging with the Crematogaster.

They also forage alone (maybe to not attract attention) and when they run along the trails with the Crematogaster, they are hard to tell apart.

[Ernteameise]

 

 

 

These ants mimic Crematogaster. They run along with them, living next to them on the same tree and use their trails. I do not think it is a real mutualistic relationship- it is more like commensalism. The Crematogaster do all the work, they do the scouting and fighting, they form the much larger colonies (thousands of workers), but they are also not directly harmed (so it is not parasitism). These Camponotus form small colonies of up to 200 workers and go foraging with the Crematogaster.

They also forage alone (maybe to not attract attention) and when they run along the trails with the Crematogaster, they are hard to tell apart.

 

 

Correction!

I did read up in "The Ants" (the ant bible) last night and they consider Camponotus lateralis indeed as parabiotic and parasitic towards Crematogaster scutellaris. The Camponotus get all the perks and eat from the food sources discovered by the Crematogaster and are basically EXACTLY what the word "parasite" means in greek: "Sitting next to you, eating your stuff". Often, the Crematogaster get fed up with this and attack and chase the Camponotus away.

Very exciting.
 

[kalimant]

 

 

 

 

These ants mimic Crematogaster. They run along with them, living next to them on the same tree and use their trails. I do not think it is a real mutualistic relationship- it is more like commensalism. The Crematogaster do all the work, they do the scouting and fighting, they form the much larger colonies (thousands of workers), but they are also not directly harmed (so it is not parasitism). These Camponotus form small colonies of up to 200 workers and go foraging with the Crematogaster.

They also forage alone (maybe to not attract attention) and when they run along the trails with the Crematogaster, they are hard to tell apart.

 

 

Correction!

I did read up in "The Ants" (the ant bible) last night and they consider Camponotus lateralis indeed as parabiotic and parasitic towards Crematogaster scutellaris. The Camponotus get all the perks and eat from the food sources discovered by the Crematogaster and are basically EXACTLY what the word "parasite" means in greek: "Sitting next to you, eating your stuff". Often, the Crematogaster get fed up with this and attack and chase the Camponotus away.

Very exciting.
 

 

 

Ya, that is  an interesting relationship! I can believe that Crematogaster ants are quite capable of (indirectly) defending them as well. Some Crematogaster are very aggressive, for example, the ones that protect acacia from vertebrate and invertebrates in Africa (albeit this very aggressiveness is what gets them killed by invading Pheiole megacephala). I've also seen a Crematogaster sp here slowly deter Pheidole obscurithorax from going to a bait that was quite close to the Pheidole nest. They don't have penetrating stings, but their chemical defenses seem to be really really good.

I read The Ants a long while back. Interesting general book on ants, though a lot of new research has come up since then. Now I'm thinking of getting Wilson's Pheidole from 2003, though not sure yet.

 

[Voidley]

Okay, I FINALLY got around to editing through all my photos. This may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but it's something I've been working on and procrastinating for ages. For context, I “recently” (it’s been months at this point) went on a trip to Costa Rica. I explored the Monteverde rainforest and visited multiple biological research stations, including La Selva. One of my main goals was macro photography, so I ended up taking hundreds of photos. The trip was amazing, and I saw incredible wildlife. Right now, I'm just here to share some of the ants I photographed. These are just the highlights; I don't want this post to be too lengthy. If anyone is interested, I'd love to share more pictures, including some non-ant ones. I took a lot! I hope you enjoy the photos—I certainly enjoyed taking them. The whole trip was a fantastic experience, definitely one of the highlights of my life, and I can't wait to go back.

 

Anyways, here are the photos:

 

Camponotus zonatus climbing through a rocky crevasse

 

Cephalotes cristatus worker peering inquisitively at the camera

 

A “herd” of C. zonatus drinking from a puddle of sugar water

 

A massive C. zonatus face to face with a smaller ant (I think Pheidole walkeri?) at opposite sides of the sugar water hole

 

A Pheidole walkeri (I think) standing amidst the half-dissolved sugar grains

 

A tiny Pheidole major hauling a massive earwig carcass entirely on its own (you can’t tell in the photo, but this one tiny ant was seriously moving it)

 

Atta cephalotes worker carrying a flower petal along the forest floor

 

Here’s a fun one , an Atta cephalotes worker giving her greeting to us on her leaf

 

A gorgeous Pachycondyla impressa worker

 

Another A. cephalotes photo, I really liked the composition and colors of this one

 

Eciton burchellii “army ants” tending to their wounded in a “hospital” that they are known to setup along their trails. This particular trail was enormous, hundreds of meters long and probably even longer than that but they went into the woods.

 

The infamous bullet ant, Paraponera clavata. I had heard about how large these girls got, but I was not prepared for seeing their size in person. It’s really difficult to covey through this photograph just how massive this ant was.

 

A species of Crematogaster which has a symbiotic relationship with this plant. The ants protect the plant from pests and in return, this plant secretes honeydew from that special node you see the ant in the photo drinking from. This relationship  was explained to use by the tour guide accompanying us.

 

Another bullet ant! I’m honestly super happy with this shot, it’s not perfect, but it’s a really good photo for me and I’m really proud of it since I’m still just starting out.

 

Check out the mandibles on these bullet ants!

 

Here’s some more super fun shots I took. These took literal hours to get because the ants refused to cooperate—but I think it was worth it in the end.

 

Btw Drew, if you're reading this and you want to use this last photo on the site please feel free to do so—I’d be honored lol. This is a low-res version becuase I didn’t want all these photos to take too long to load, but I also have a higher-res version that I could send you. 

[kalimant]

Okay, I FINALLY got around to editing through all my photos. This may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but it's something I've been working on and procrastinating for ages. For context, I “recently” (it’s been months at this point) went on a trip to Costa Rica. I explored the Monteverde rainforest and visited multiple biological research stations, including La Selva. One of my main goals was macro photography, so I ended up taking hundreds of photos. The trip was amazing, and I saw incredible wildlife. Right now, I'm just here to share some of the ants I photographed. These are just the highlights; I don't want this post to be too lengthy. If anyone is interested, I'd love to share more pictures, including some non-ant ones. I took a lot! I hope you enjoy the photos—I certainly enjoyed taking them. The whole trip was a fantastic experience, definitely one of the highlights of my life, and I can't wait to go back.

 

Anyways, here are the photos: 

 

 

Great photos! Great job on composition and all. 

Edited by kalimant, May 19 2024 - 11:28 PM.

[Ernteameise]

O wow, these pictures are stunning!

Thank you for sharing.

[kalimant]

 

Okay, I FINALLY got around to editing through all my photos. This may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but it's something I've been working on and procrastinating for ages. For context, I “recently” (it’s been months at this point) went on a trip to Costa Rica. I explored the Monteverde rainforest and visited multiple biological research stations, including La Selva. One of my main goals was macro photography, so I ended up taking hundreds of photos. The trip was amazing, and I saw incredible wildlife. Right now, I'm just here to share some of the ants I photographed. These are just the highlights; I don't want this post to be too lengthy. If anyone is interested, I'd love to share more pictures, including some non-ant ones. I took a lot! I hope you enjoy the photos—I certainly enjoyed taking them. The whole trip was a fantastic experience, definitely one of the highlights of my life, and I can't wait to go back.

 

Anyways, here are the photos: 

 

 

Great photos! Great job on composition and all. 

 

 

 

Btw, I also like how natural the lighting is in your pics.

Especially in the Pheidole minor close up shot, and the Eciton mass raid shot (which was almost cinematic) 

[WideBrownLand]

 

A colony of Pheidole dispar that I found getting ready for a nuptial flight. Apparently this species isn't readily seen. Landsborough, Queensland.

 

Good looking species. Not much known indeed. Was hoping you could add to how they live.

 

Btw, you take awesome macros, you need to create an album blog somewheres of them ;-)

 

Hi kalimant, The only thing I can really tell you is that they were in a disturbed area within a State Forest. A patch of land had been cleared to do planting trials of different Eucalypt species, so I am unsure if they were already at the site or came in with the plants somehow. I posted the observation on inaturalist and there was a bit of a discussion there. I will insert the information that I was told. 

 

"It seems like it’s not really known, but based on their apparent behavior and morphology, I’m guessing they eat ant brood, termites, or some combination of the two. They share a lot of physical characteristics with other ants that follow that niche, such as Dolopomyrmex pilatus, Dorylus orientalis, subterranean Carebara/Solenopsis, etc. They lose their pigment and eye development and seem to focus on becoming elongate presumably for traversing tight tunnels; queens much bigger than workers also seems to be a trend within that niche, at least in the species that make bigger colonies or aren’t in temperate regions. It seems that most ants like this do rarely come to the surface, often only after rains for nuptial flights, which is a shame for studying them; it would be interesting to eventually know things about the niche like variation of being nomadic, or just foraging in tunnels going outward from a central nest/nests." This was provided by a user named Arman_ and what was interesting about all of the observations of them is that once the nuptial flight was over there was no sign of the colony above ground. All trace vanished despite my knowing to the metre where I saw them, I never saw any sign of them again.

[WideBrownLand]

A Frogattella kirbii from Heathcote in Victoria, Australia that I found on a recent day trip. A first for me and if I am honest, I had never heard of these ants before.

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[kalimant]

 

 

A colony of Pheidole dispar that I found getting ready for a nuptial flight. Apparently this species isn't readily seen. Landsborough, Queensland.

 

Good looking species. Not much known indeed. Was hoping you could add to how they live.

 

Btw, you take awesome macros, you need to create an album blog somewheres of them ;-)

 

Hi kalimant, The only thing I can really tell you is that they were in a disturbed area within a State Forest. A patch of land had been cleared to do planting trials of different Eucalypt species, so I am unsure if they were already at the site or came in with the plants somehow. I posted the observation on inaturalist and there was a bit of a discussion there. I will insert the information that I was told. 

 

"It seems like it’s not really known, but based on their apparent behavior and morphology, I’m guessing they eat ant brood, termites, or some combination of the two. They share a lot of physical characteristics with other ants that follow that niche, such as Dolopomyrmex pilatus, Dorylus orientalis, subterranean Carebara/Solenopsis, etc. They lose their pigment and eye development and seem to focus on becoming elongate presumably for traversing tight tunnels; queens much bigger than workers also seems to be a trend within that niche, at least in the species that make bigger colonies or aren’t in temperate regions. It seems that most ants like this do rarely come to the surface, often only after rains for nuptial flights, which is a shame for studying them; it would be interesting to eventually know things about the niche like variation of being nomadic, or just foraging in tunnels going outward from a central nest/nests." This was provided by a user named Arman_ and what was interesting about all of the observations of them is that once the nuptial flight was over there was no sign of the colony above ground. All trace vanished despite my knowing to the metre where I saw them, I never saw any sign of them again.

 

 

Thanks. When I first saw the pics the thought did cross my mind that they do seem to be predisposed towards an underground raiding lifestyle based on their bodies and eyes. Next time you see them, drop some termite nest fragments nearby ;-)

Interestingly enough, you don't need to be specialized to be a very good predator of termites.

https://onlinelibrar...18.2007.01223.x

[martin_]

Messor captitatus

[kalimant]

Pheidole dentata in central Florida...found colonies in scrub woodland.

 

https://keyapa.com/p...with-fire-ants/

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Edited by kalimant, May 29 2024 - 1:11 PM.

[kalimant]

Pheidole megacephala vs Solenopsis invicta

https://keyapa.com/p...nopsis-invicta/

 

Edited by kalimant, June 2 2024 - 8:41 AM.

[Ernteameise]

Wow, great picture!

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

I love the major in the background with open jaws!

[kalimant]

Wow, great picture!

 

I'll be honest. It was darkish and I could barely see the combatants. I just managed to take some good action shots by taking quite a few pics ;-)

[kalimant]

I love the major in the background with open jaws!

 

Most of the combatants had their jaws wide open when in direct conflict I think...ready and willing to clamp onto the next fire ant limb or body.

[ANTdrew]

Pheidole megacephala vs Solenopsis invicta

https://keyapa.com/p...nopsis-invicta/

Vendayn would’ve loved that. Old timers will know who I’m talking about.

[kalimant]

 

Pheidole megacephala vs Solenopsis invicta

https://keyapa.com/p...nopsis-invicta/

Vendayn would’ve loved that. Old timers will know who I’m talking about.

 

 

 

I really really doubt he had P. megacephala in CA. I mean, it's easy to take a pic that clearly shows the species,  or send a sample somewhere. I  have a feeling it was all in his imagination. 

[1tsm3jack]

What lenses do people use? I would love to start doing ant photography along with all the other photography I do but i'm not sure if my camera/lens is good enough. I have a Canon Rebel t2i and I also have a canon 275mm lens.