Salton Sea 2014 (Part 5)

	Wayne's Word		Index		Noteworthy Plants		Trivia		Lemnaceae		Biology 101		Botany		Scenic		Wildflowers		Trains		Spiders & Insects		Search

Home

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 5: Ant Images (Continued)

Other Ant Species

Long-Legged Ant: Aphaenogaster cockerelli at The Living Desert Exhibit

Captive colony of long-legged ants (Aphaenogaster cockerelli) at The Living Desert exhibit in Palm Desert, California.

Long-Legged Ant In The Superstition Mtns

Dorymyrmex bicolor (probably)

Conical Crater Of Dorymyrmex

The dark band at the base of crater contains the dismembered bodies of another species of harvester ant (Messor). This picture illustrates the following ant fact: The worst enemy of ants is other ants!

See Ant Massacre On Owens Peak

Large Crater Of Harvester Ant (Messor pergandei)

Large harvester ant nest. After extracting the seeds underground, the empty husks are piled up outside the entrance to the nest.

Close-up view of glistening plant resin globs the size of sand grains. They were found in the above husk pile, presumably discarded by the harvester ants. I have no idea why they were collected in the first place. It is known that some ants use resin in their nests as anti-bacterial and ant-fungal agents. See following image taken in Superstition Mtns of Arizona.

Dried resin (right) collected under brittlebush in Superstition Mountains.

Two Additional Arboreal Ants At Living Desert

Long-Horned Crazy Ant (Paratrechina)

The Living Desert ant was about 0.5 mm shorter than Paratrechina longicornis in Oracle, Arizona, but possibly it is the same species. Specimen at left was photographed in isopropyl alcohol and does not show its natural black coloration.

See following image from Oracle, Arizona:

Paratrechina longicornis in Oracle, Arizona.

Rover Ant (Brachymyrmex patagonicus) and Paratrechina

Rover Ant (Brachymyrmex patagonicus) From Mesa, Arizona

Brachymyrmex patagonicus from Arizona compared in size with a U.S. penny.