Pheidole metallescens major worker.

Gainesville, Florida, USA
Eciton hamatum army ant soldier. This portrait is a composite of 32 photographs taken at different focal depths and stacked to produce an artificially sharp image. 

Armenia, Belize
Eciton hamatum army ant soldier. This portrait is a composite of 32 photographs taken at different focal depths and stacked to produce an artificially sharp image. 

Armenia, Belize
Eciton hamatum army ant soldier. This portrait is a composite of 32 photographs taken at different focal depths and stacked to produce an artificially sharp image. 

Armenia, Belize
An Eciton hamatum soldier stands guard over a column of army ants returning from the front.

Armenia, Belize
Dorylus driver ants are quick to defend their colonies. Here, a soldier bites down on an intruding myrmecologist. This behavior has been co-opted by traditional medicine in some cultures to make sutures of ant heads.

Kibale forest, Uganda
Pheidole biconstricta is one of the larger and more common Pheidole in northern South America.

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

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

Carrancas, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Pheidole metallescens major worker.

Gainesville, Florida, USA
Pheidole metallescens major worker.

Gainesville, Florida, USA
Pheidole metallescens major worker.

Gainesville, Florida, USA
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all images and text © Alex Wild 2001-2013