Pheidole obscurithorax stays ahead of the competition using group retrieval of food (in this case, a scavenged cockroach carcass). Working together, the ants can usually get the bounty home before a more aggressive species usurps their find. Orlando, Florida, USA

Nomamyrmex esenbeckii is a master predator of other ants. Here, a worker carries off a Pheidole soldier she has paralyzed, transporting the prey in typical army ant style- slung under her body. Monte Verde, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Discothyrea mixta transporting a prey egg with a first-instar ant larva. Kibale forest, Uganda JTL-7912