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This immature widow spider (Latrodectus hesperus) has built her web across a harvester ant nest entrance where she can easily catch incoming and outgoing worker ants. Hallelujah Junction, California, USA
Pogonomyrmex barbatus alate queen. Sycamore Canyon, Arizona, USA
Pogonomyrmex barbatus alate queen. Sycamore Canyon, Arizona, USA
A Pogonomyrmex rugosus worker shows off her psammophore, the basket of long hairs on the underside of her head used for carrying sand grains. This structure enticed Austrian taxonomist Gustav Mayr to name this genus Pogonomyrmex, or "bearded ant". Tucson, Arizona, USA
One of the strangest recorded ant phenomena is a hybrid zone between two species of harvester ants in the western United States. Pogonomyrmex rugosus and Pogonomyrmex barbatus apparently hybridized in the ancient past, leading to a pair of genetically complex daughter lineages that continually need to cross with each other in order to make worker ants. The queens and males remain genetically separate. Young queens need to mate with their own species to produce more queens and males, and with the other species to produce workers. This image shows a hybrid worker leaving the nest. Portal, Arizona, USA
Two harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex rugosus) from adjacent nests engaging in ritual warfare, pushing in a display of force but not actually harming each other. It is thought that colonies use these mock battles to gather information about their neighbors. Knowledge about the strength of competing colonies helps ants set territorial borders without loss of life. Tucson, Arizona, USA
Pogonomyrmex rugosus, harvester ant worker cutting grass seeds off the stalk. Tucson, Arizona, USA
Pogonomyrmex pima worker carrying excavated soil out of the nest. Tucson, Arizona, USA
Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, the western harvester ant Hallelujah Junction, California, USA
Pogonomyrmex pima worker carrying excavated soil out of the nest.

Tucson, Arizona, USA
Pogonomyrmex pima worker carrying excavated soil out of the nest. Tucson, Arizona, USA
Pogonomyrmex pima worker carrying excavated soil out of the nest.

Tucson, Arizona, USA
See photo in original gallery.
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all images and text © Alex Wild 2001-2013