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#Cool Bug #Joe Pye Weed #What is this bug?

-Pros to me doing my field research alone: nobody saw me sprain my ankle by tripping over a gopher hole

-Cons to me doing my field research alone: I keep pointing at bugs/critters going "woah look a cool bug/critter!" and nobody's there to go "woah lemme see!" so I'm really just entertaining myself only

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Day 257#: African Stink Ant

Today's animal of the day is the African Stink Ant (Paltothyreus tarsatus)!

Photo credit: Philip Herbst

This species of ant can be found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and lives in large nests that consist of a maze-like network of shallow but incredibly long tunnels. These tunnels often have multiple entrances and exits that allow the workers to easily travel from one foraging area to another. African stink ants are primarily carnivorous, and workers can often be seen hunting creatures many times larger than themselves, such as beetles, millipedes, and other invertebrates. Though they've also been observed foraging for other foods, such as mangoes, to bring back to their colonies.

Photo credit: Vaughan Jessnitz

Despite being aggressive predators, there is actually a species of small frog called the Accra snake-necked frog that often seeks shelter inside their nests. The frogs produce a special secretion from their skin that somehow prevents the ants from becoming aggressive and allows them to live peacefully alongside each other. They are called "stink" ants because the workers emit a special secretion from their mandibles that smells a lot like rotten eggs. They use this secretion to alert other workers if they've been buried alive by a collapsed tunnel, which happens quite a bit, so their sisters can come and dig them out.