#weaver ants

[grrl-beetle]

Sekhar Bandyopadhyay

[ijustreallylikeants]

Okay, actually this time.

Which side of the ant conflict are you on?

Yippee! Ants!

Darn, it’s Ants!

Voting ended onMay 9

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Weaver Ants

By Sudith Rodrigo

NBP International Awards

[billionneuronscurious]

I was walking by the spot, where a ball of ants attached to the cicada fell down. 

And my reaction was, what on Earth is happening here?

So, while walking by this spot, I noticed a sound being made by cicada, which was still in flight, and it landed some distance from me. 

Since there were many cicadas constantly making shrill noise in this area, this sound of cicada could be recognized, but what was unusual was something brown ball like attached to this cicada.

I went near this ball to inspect what it is, and then I saw that the ball was actually several Weaver Ants holding on to the Cicada.

Just a few seconds back the Cicada was in flight, but now the Cicada didn't make any movements. The ants were holding on to it and were still moving. I slightly touched the cicada with my finger, but no movement.

I left these creatures, with whatever was happening here, and when I checked them back a few minutes later, the ants were 'frozen', they showed no movement and were apparently dead. This ball had landed in a sunny spot. Maybe too much heat caused the death of ants.

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

Though most ants make their homes underground, the green tree ant prefers a life among the leaves. Also known as weaver ants, the workers of this species will stitch tree leaves together using silk produced by their larva! These nests can span over a dozen trees, housing up to half a million ants.

(Image: green tree ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) building a nest by Gianfranco Colombo)

If you like what I do, consider leaving a tip or buying me a ko-fi!

[tomatocraftz]

My first post here, I’m gonna start posting my old art to catch up with where I’m at, but this was my first attempt at drawing full insects :)

[futurebird]

Do you want weaver ants? Because that's how you get weaver ants!

Weaver ants use empty silk cocoons from wild silk moths as founding chambers. Empty cocoons from commercial silk production can even be used to attract queens. These ants play an important role in pest control in orchards and are desired by farmers. (Source)

Method used by some farmers to attract weaver ant queens.

[rattyexplores]

Parasitic Fungi on Queens

Found these two on opposite sides of the tree. I guess these queens just got unlucky.

Parasite - Unidentified, family Cordycipitaceae

Host - Oecophylla smaragdina

22/02/23