Azteca velox workers tending to a Theope caterpillar. Isla Contadora, Panama - Alex Wild Photography - Insect Photography

Azteca

is a genus of aggressive, tree-dwelling dolichoderine ants found throughout the new world tropics. Some species have evolved specialized relationships with the plants that house them.

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An Azteca ithsmica Cecropia ant queen searches for a suitable entry point on a Cecropia trunk.

Coclé, Panama

A young Azteca isthmica queen cuts into the soft tissue of a Cecropia tree to gain access to the hollow center. The trees welcome such an intrusion: the resident Azteca colony founded by this queen will provide ample protection from herbivores.

Coclé, Panama

Azteca velox workers tending to a Theope caterpillar.

Isla Contadora, Panama

Azteca velox worker tending to a Theope caterpillar.

Isla Contadora, Panama

Azteca velox recruit to the carcass of an Ectatomma species. Ants are the great recyclers: few insects die in tropical forests that aren't scavenged immediately by ants.

Isla Contadora, Panama

The brood nest of the ant-plant ant Azteca is a mix of ant larvae (the larger grubs) and Beltian food bodies (the smaller ovoids). The Cecropia tree housing the ants also produces Beltian bodies as nourishment to the larvae.

Icononzo, Tolima, Colombia

The brood nest of the ant-plant ant Azteca holds a mix of ant larvae (the larger grubs) and Beltian food bodies (the smaller ovoids).

Icononzo, Tolima, Colombia

Ants won't often eat members of their own species, but they are happy to consume the dead bodies of other types of ants. Here, fiesty little Azteca ants cooperate to lug the remains of a leafcutter ant worker back to their nest, where it will be fed to the developing larvae.

Potrerillo, Tolima, Colombia

An Azteca guard in her natural habitat: embedded aggressively in a myrmecologist's skin.

Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Azteca velox workers tending to a Theope caterpillar.

Isla Contadora, Panama

Canon EOS 20D |

More details: exif |

Original size: 3504x2336 |

Current: 800x534 |

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Azteca

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