Mathematical ecologist Felipe Neves, a graduate student at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, demonstrates the use of an aspirator to collect ants. Many arboreal ants inhabit  epiphytic plants; this bromeliad housed a large colony of Camponotus.

Morretes, Paraná, Brazil
Linepithema iniquum from different nests, fighting. Myrmecologists can sometimes measure the territory of an an colony by testing the aggression of ants collected at different distances.

Morretes, Paraná, Brazil
Mathematical ecologist Felipe Neves, a graduate student at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, demonstrates the use of an aspirator to collect ants.

Morretes, Paraná, Brazil
Myrmecologist Júlio Chaul sorts ponerine ants at the collection in Viçosa, Minas Gerais. Natural history collections are vital repositories of information.

Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
As the sun sets over a grazed cerrado remnant, Júlio Chaul looks for ants nesting in disturbed soil.

Carrancas, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Myrmecologist Ricardo Solar illuminates a large Azteca carton nest on the campus of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa.

Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Linepithema iniquum from different nests, fighting.

Morretes, Paraná, Brazil
Myrmecologist Ricardo ("Bob") Solar ponders the sharp mandibles of an Atta laevigata soldier, the world's largest leafcutter ant. 

Carrancas, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Martialis heureka - preserved holotype specimen.

Museu de Zoologia, São Paulo, Brazil
Mathematical ecologist Felipe Neves, a graduate student at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, demonstrates the use of an aspirator to collect ants.

Morretes, Paraná, Brazil
Mathematical ecologist Felipe Neves, a graduate student at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, demonstrates the use of an aspirator to collect ants.

Morretes, Paraná, Brazil
Mathematical ecologist Felipe Neves, a graduate student at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, demonstrates the use of an aspirator to collect ants.

Morretes, Paraná, Brazil
See photo in original gallery.
all images and text © Alex Wild 2001-2013