Solenopsis invicta, young alate queen in the nest.

Austin, Texas, USA
Early morning sun catches a mating flight of Forelius mccooki in the Sonoran desert.

Tucson, Arizona, USA
Male and female Forelius mccooki in the nest.

Tucson, Arizona, USA
Pogonomyrmex badius, the Florida harvester ant, queen.  Her enlarged thorax holds muscles from younger days when she had wings for dispersing from her natal nest.

Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA
The Florida harvester ant Pogonomyrmex badius is the only North American pogo found east of the Mississippi, and the only species that is polymorphic in the worker caste.  The individual on the right is a major worker whose enlarged head holds muscles useful for milling seeds.

Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA
Neivamyrmex opacithorax army ant queen with a retinue of workers.  Unlike most queen ants which are born with wings for dispersal and large eyes for visual navigation, army ant queens are always wingless and have greatly reduced eyes.

Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, USA
A queen Neivamyrmex opacithorax army ant surrounded by her much smaller worker offspring.

Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, USA
A queen Neivamyrmex opacithorax army ant.  Her enormous abdomen houses ovaries for egg production.  Queen army ants are among the most fecund of all insects, as army ant colonies may have tens or  hundreds of thousands of worker ants (such as the small ant pictured riding on top) and the reproduction is the work of a single mother queen.

Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, USA
Inside the fungus garden of the asexual ant Mycocepurus smithii.

Panama
The Florida harvester ant Pogonomyrmex badius is the only North American pogo found east of the Mississippi, and the only species that is polymorphic in the worker caste. The individual on the right is a major worker whose enlarged head holds muscles useful for milling seeds.

Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA
The Florida harvester ant Pogonomyrmex badius is the only North American pogo found east of the Mississippi, and the only species that is polymorphic in the worker caste.  The individual on the right is a major worker whose enlarged head holds muscles useful for milling seeds.

Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA
The Florida harvester ant Pogonomyrmex badius is the only North American pogo found east of the Mississippi, and the only species that is polymorphic in the worker caste. The individual on the right is a major worker whose enlarged head holds muscles useful for milling seeds.

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