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Formica obscuripes nestmate workers engaging in trophallaxis, or the social sharing of liquid food. Wisconsin, USA
Formica obscuripes nestmate workers engaging in trophallaxis, or the social sharing of liquid food. Wisconsin, USA
Formica obscuripes nestmate workers engaging in trophallaxis, or the social sharing of liquid food. Wisconsin, USA
Formica obscuripes nestmate workers engaging in trophallaxis, or the social sharing of liquid food. Wisconsin, USA
Formica obscuripes nestmate workers engaging in trophallaxis, or the social sharing of liquid food. Wisconsin, USA
Formica obscuripes nestmate workers engaging in trophallaxis, or the social sharing of liquid food. Wisconsin, USA
Formica obscuripes nestmate workers engaging in trophallaxis, or the social sharing of liquid food. This behavior does more than merely transfer food. Ants also use it to pass chemical signals among each other, and research has shown that trophallaxis helps the colony maintain a cohesive identifying odor. Wisconsin, USA
Myrmecocystus mexicanus. Honeypot ants have an unusual food storage system. Some members of each colony act as living receptacles known as "repletes", these ants become engorged with food and hang from the ceilings of chambers deep underground. Captive colony at the California Academy of Sciences
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
Formica obscuripes nestmate workers engaging in trophallaxis, or the social sharing of liquid food.

Wisconsin, USA
Formica obscuripes nestmate workers engaging in trophallaxis, or the social sharing of liquid food. Wisconsin, USA
Formica obscuripes nestmate workers engaging in trophallaxis, or the social sharing of liquid food.

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