Lmst

#laeviuscula

And now for some more ants! I spent years and years of my life studying wasps but I can't ever find them when I'm holding my camera. But hey, ants are still awesome. The one on the right must have found something delicious as she is sharing it through trophallaxis (aka the kiss of life? do ant experts really use this?) with her sister. I presume these are shiny acrobat ants but would love a correction.

#Insects #Nature #Photography #Ant #Oklahoma #Crematogaster #laeviuscula #InsectInteraction

Two ants with their mandables open and interlocked with a tiny drop of clear liquid in between them. They ants have heads and bodies that brownish red in color and their abdomens are a glossy black. The one on the right is receiving the droplet and she is standing in the rough tree bark opening of their nest.

Beetle #Clytra #laeviuscula (#Chrysomelidae) is #myrmecophilous. Its juveniles carry cases of feces for #antprotection. F. A. Agrain et al. (2015) state that myrmecophily in #leafbeetles only appears in #Clytrini and #Cryptocephalini within #Cryptocephalinae. Numbers of origins of the strategy are unknown, but there were preadaptations as e.g. feces cases.

Reference

F. A. Agrain et al. (2015):
https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.547.6098

#laeviuscula

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