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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Ants (Formicoidea) » Ants (Formicidae)
Photo#1341120
Ant and Caterpillar with same colors. Why? What kind of ant?
Copyright © 2017 eaglebeach

Ant and Caterpillar with same colors. Why? What kind of ant?
Tracys Landing, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, USA
September 22, 2011
This ant seems to have the same colors as the woolly bear caterpillar in the same sequence. Why? Maybe it is just coincidence, but it just seems too perfectly matched to not have some reason for the occurrence.

In the other pictures I have the ant is either attacking or grooming the woolly bear on various parts of the woolly bear, mostly in the orangish middle section.

There was only this one ant in the pictures even though I have some pictures that include quite a bit more of the tree the caterpillar seems to be climbing. The caterpillar appears to be 3-4 feet off the ground.

What kind of ant is it? When I look up ants in Maryland during this month, the only one with similar colorations is Camponotus chromaiodes - ferruginous carpenter ant, but I have no idea if that is what this ant is or might be.
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Contributed by eaglebeach on 20 February, 2017 - 4:03pm
Last updated 3 October, 2019 - 3:17pm

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… Charley Eiseman, 13 May, 2017 - 5:33pm login or register to post comments

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