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Photo#567405

"Cleaner fishes" of the ant world - Dorymyrmex insanus
Southwest Biological Research Station west of Portal, Cochise County, Arizona, USA
August 9, 2011
Size: 3 and 7 mm
The Dorymyrmex nests were located near the edge of the clearing made around the mound of Pogonomyrmex barbatus. In the morning, when both species were cool, the larger ants walking near the smaller ones' nest entrance were often mounted and licked by them, then released unharmed. Some of the "pogos" were clearly less comfortable with this than others. This one allowed a particularly large number of the Dorymyrmex on board for several minutes.

That's incredible.
Very cool.

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