#formicidae

[leifcollectsbugs]

Above, Pogonomyrmex barbatus I photographed on my phone 🤳

Also called Red harvester ants, they are a native insect of the Southwestern U.S., known for collecting seeds, which it stores in its nest for food. These ants are orange to reddish-brown, can deliver a painful sting, and are characterized by bare, circular areas around their nests where vegetation is cleared.

[herpsandbirds]

Armor Clad Spiny Ant (Polyrhachis armata), family Formicidae, Malaysia

photograph by Jack K H Loo

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

Not all heroes wear capes! Quicksilver ants are named for their remarkable ability to beat the extreme heat of the Saharan desert. Workers have a thin coat of special silver hairs which can reflect sunlight and radiate excess heat away from their bodies. They also spend as little time outside the nest as possible, which means they travel fast; individuals have been clocked at moving 108 times their body length in a second, reaching speeds of up to 3.1 kph (1.9 mph). That makes it the fastest known species of ant!

(Image: A quicksilver ant (Cataglyphis bombycina) by Norman Nan Shi)

[bowelfly]

inkwash bugs

[snototter]

A colony of gliding ants (Cephalotes atratus) in Ecuador

by Graham Wise

[aldernorth]

One minute of Tetramorium caespitum eating potato with ambience (birds, mowing, boyfriend watching lockpickinglawyer).

[transparentfossil]

Fossil Ant (Formicidae) In Baltic Amber

[zoelikesbugs]

I bought some gardening gloves yesterday specifically for digging for bugs. Here are yesterday's dirt friends! (And don't worry, they were put back exactly where they were found afterwards)