alexwild > Argentine ants (Linepithema humile tending scale insects on an orange tree in suburban California.

Davis, California, USA
alexwild > Sonoran desert cacti are frequently covered in ants.  Cacti provide ants with nectar- a ready food supply in a harsh environment- in exchange for protection from herbivorous insects.  Here, two Crematogaster opuntiae acrobat ants exchange nectar they have gathered from a chain-link cholla.

Tucson, Arizona, USA
alexwild > Crematogaster opuntiae gathering nectar from a cholla cactus.

Tucson, Arizona, USA
alexwild > Some plant species attract ants with special nectar-producing glands.  It is thought that ants help protect the plant from herbivorous pest insects, so the arrangement is beneficial for both ants and plants.  Here, a Crematogaster cerasi forager feeds from a leaf nectary of an Ailanthus tree of paradise.

Champaign, Illinois, USA
alexwild > Uneasy relationship: a Trachymyrmex fungus-growing ant (left) encounters a Megalomyrmex symmetochus that is a parasite of her nest.

Panama; captive colony at the University of Texas
alexwild > Argentine ants (Linepithema humile tending scale insects on an orange tree in suburban California.

Davis, California, USA
alexwild > Linepithema humile, the Argentine ant, tending a citrus scale insect for honeydew.  

Davis, California, USA
alexwild > Formica aerata, the California grey field ant, tending aphids on a willow branch.

Hallelujah Junction, California, USA
alexwild > Sonoran desert cacti are frequently covered in ants.  Cacti provide ants with nectar- a ready food supply in a harsh environment- in exchange for protection from herbivorous insects.  Here, two Crematogaster opuntiae acrobat ants exchange nectar they have gathered from a chain-link cholla.

Tucson, Arizona, USA
Argentine ants (Linepithema humile tending scale insects on an orange tree in suburban California.

Davis, California, USA
alexwild > Argentine ants (Linepithema humile tending scale insects on an orange tree in suburban California.

Davis, California, USA
Argentine ants (Linepithema humile tending scale insects on an orange tree in suburban California.

Davis, California, USA
See photo in original gallery.

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insect pictures, insect images, insect photos, insect photography, ant images, bug pictures, bug photographs, insect identification, ant pictures