A harvester ant worker (Pogonomyrmex rugosus) pulls grass seeds off the stalk. Ants store the seeds in underground chambers to carry them through times of drought. 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
At the busy nest entrance of a red harvester ant colony, Pogonomyrmex barbatus. Sycamore Canyon, Arizona, USA
