Leptomyrmex
is a large, leggy, often colorful genus restricted to eastern Australia, New Guinea, and New Caledonia. The skittish movements and long legs of these distinctive insects give them the common name "spider ants". Some workers in each nest specialize as living storage containers called repletes, their abdomens greatly distended.
An absconding Leptomyrmex darlingtoni worker climbs a small bush with a larva after the photographer has disturbed her nest at the base of the bush. A number of ant species display this absconding behavior upon nest disturbance, possibly as a defense against attacks by subterranean army ants.
Mungkan Kandju National Park, Queensland, Australia
An absconding Leptomyrmex darlingtoni worker climbs a small bush with a larva after the photographer has disturbed her nest at the base of the bush. A number of ant species display this absconding behavior upon nest disturbance, possibly as a defense against attacks by subterranean army ants.
Mungkan Kandju National Park, Queensland, Australia
Original size: 3076x2052 |
Current: 800x534 |
