Caribbean ant

nephiliim · Post by **nephiliim** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:51 pm

Hey folks,

Found these fellers in the yard, but couldn't make them sit still long enough to get a good shot. Tried a lot of stuff to lure them.
In the end, I tried a bit of honey, and that worked like a charm.

They are between 0,5 and 1 cm large and they are really really fast runners.

Hope you like it,

All the best,

Tom B

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 2:31 pm

Nice.

I'm not an expert but harvesters are usually very brisk.

nephiliim · Post by **nephiliim** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 2:38 pm

What does brisk mean?

And I just saw, what the heck is the white stuff on the abdomen?

All the best,

Tom B

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 6:00 pm

Great shot Tom...who cares about the honey. She looks cute sucking away at the sweet stuff. I thought the white stuff was a reflection.

Gordon C. Snelling · Post by **Gordon C. Snelling** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 7:04 pm

The ant looks like a Camponotus sp. The white on the thoracic region I think is light reflecting of the small hairs there.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 7:31 pm

Great shot TomB!

1 cm huh? Wonder what it would look like after ingesting one of the spores from Cordyceps?

Bet that would be a "stroma" to see.

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 8:46 pm

nephiliim wrote:What does brisk mean?

Tom B

Agile?

So Carpenter ants.

Camponotus sp. possess endosymbiont bacteria which help them to synthesize amino acids.

nephiliim · Post by **nephiliim** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:46 am

Thanks for the ID, I learned that they are called badjaga or bashaka in Papiamentu, the local creole language here.

Thanks for the comments,

All the best,

Tom B