Favorite Ant Photographs of 2014

Seems like ants have taken a back seat to other things this year.  Regardless, here are a few of my favorite photographs from 2014.

ant-1111

Even missing a leg, a Pogonomyrmex warrior is ready to defend her nest.

ant-on-milkweed-crop

Not sure what these Solenopsis workers are finding so interesting on rush milkweed buds.

rover-in-thurbers-cotton-nectary

Sometime I wasn’t intending to feature ants. For example, I was more interested in the delicate Thurber’s cotton flower than the rover ant visiting the nectary.

 

rover-ants-at-EFNs

Like other cotton plants, the Thurber’s cotton also has extrafloral nectaries that attract ants.

princess-ant-rugosus-crop

Nothing is more exciting than finding princess ants about to swarm after the first rains of summer.

 

Messor-pergandei-crop

How about Messor pergandei taken at my favorite place to visit ants? (A good place to look for ants if you don’t mind dodging mountain bikes, that is. )

Do you have an end-of-the-year post of nature photographs? Feel free to share your link in the comments.

Happy New Year!

Forelius Foragers: Always a Crowd

I was going to take a photograph of a desert willow flower for another of my blogs, when I noticed some ant activity.

Forelius worker ants were all over one cluster of flowers.

As far as I could tell, they were only visiting this one cluster out of probably fifty nearby.

It would have been interesting to find out more, but I had to run (story of my life).

I have seen Forelius streaming up and down trees. They seem to forage in crowds.

What do you think?