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.
A Leptomyrmex darlingtoni spider ant climbs a small bush with a larva after the photographer has disturbed her nest. The greatly distended gaster indicates that this ant is a replete who functions within the nest as a living storage chamber for liquids.
Mungkan Kandju National Park, Queensland, Australia
A Leptomyrmex darlingtoni spider ant climbs a small bush with a larva after the photographer has disturbed her nest. The greatly distended gaster indicates that this ant is a replete who functions within the nest as a living storage chamber for liquids.
Mungkan Kandju National Park, Queensland, Australia
Original size: 3076x2052 |
Current: 800x534 |
