Major and minor workers of the turtle ant Cephalotes pusillus engage in trophallaxis food-sharing behavior.

Carrancas, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Pheidole vafra minor workers cooperate to carry a piece of cookie I used to bait them out of their nest.

Morretes, Paraná, Brazil
Nomamyrmex esenbeckii 

Monte Verde, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Nomamyrmex esenbeckii workers carrying a massive Pheidole pupa they have taken in a successful raid.

Monte Verde, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Socially parasitic ants are usually discernable by their relatively small queens, as ants that start new colonies by infiltrating existing nests do not need large body reserves.  The queen of Aphaenogaster tennesseensis- a temporary nest-founding parasite of several other woodland Aphaenogaster- is scarcely larger than her own workers.

Urbana, Illinois, USA
Tetramorium bicarinatum foragers gather sugar-laden nectar from the underside of a leaf.

Orlando, Florida, USA
Camponotus (Colobopsis) impressus with a pupa. Note the differences in size and shape between major and minor workers.

Laboratory colony at the University of Central Florida, USA
Pheidole morrisi is a common soil-nesting ant in sandy habitats in southeastern North America. This photo shows a major (left) and minor worker from the same colony.

Orlando, Florida, USA
Camponotus (Colobopsis) impressus is a small arboreal ant whose minor workers (right) mimic Crematogaster acrobat ants. The major workers (left) serve as living doors, plugging nest entrances with an enlarged head.

Laboratory colony at the University of Central Florida, USA
Tetramorium bicarinatum foragers gather sugar-laden nectar from the underside of a leaf.

Orlando, Florida, USA
Tetramorium bicarinatum foragers gather sugar-laden nectar from the underside of a leaf.

Orlando, Florida, USA
Tetramorium bicarinatum foragers gather sugar-laden nectar from the underside of a leaf.

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