Portrait of a Leptomyrmex ruficeps spider ant, so named for her physical resemblance to leggy arachnids.

Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia
Portrait of a Leptomyrmex ruficeps spider ant, so named for her physical resemblance to leggy arachnids.

Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia
Nylanderia guatemalensis, worker carrying a larva. 

Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA
Paratrechina longicornis - black crazy ant.  Along a sun-soaked beach on a Panamanian island, ants drink from nectaries on the underside of a leaf.  Many plants attract ants with nectaries, and the ants in return help remove the plant's herbivorous pests.

Isla Contadora, Panama
Brachymyrmex obscurior is a South American species that has been introduced to tropical and subtropical climates around the world.

Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA
Brachymyrmex obscurior rover ants carry sand grains out from an excavation deep within their nest.

Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA
Strumigenys rogeri miniature trap-jaw ant foraging in a rotting log.

Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA
Anochetus mayri is a small species broadly distributed in the Caribbean and Central and South America.  This individual is from a population that has recently colonized suburban Florida, becoming one of many non-native ant species in the state.

West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
Anochetus mayri is a small species broadly distributed in the Caribbean and Central and South America.  This individual is from a population that has recently colonized suburban Florida, becoming one of many non-native ant species in the state.

West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
Nylanderia guatemalensis, worker carrying a larva.

Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA
Nylanderia guatemalensis, worker carrying a larva. 

Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA
Nylanderia guatemalensis, worker carrying a larva.

Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA
See photo in original gallery.
all images and text © Alex Wild 2001-2013