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Photo#792897
Formica sp. worker, dorsal - Formica aserva - female

Formica sp. worker, dorsal - Formica aserva - Female
Santa Fe Nat’l Forest, Santa Fe Co. County, New Mexico, USA
June 16, 2013
Size: 5.2 mm
Download high resolution image here.

I collected this ant on Winsor Trl. (No. 254) at 10,000 ft elevation in the Aspen Basin 7.5’ quadrangle, Santa Fe Nat’l Forest, Santa Fe Co., New Mexico from a Berlese funnel loaded with soil from this ant's nest under a rotting log in a mountainous pine-dominated forest. The Berlese funnel was not necessary to simply collect a worker; they were active on the surface. I was primarily interested in myrmecophiles. I will post some when I have a species ID of this host, linking them below as I do.

Expert confirmation and further identification is greatly appreciated. I'd like to establish the host of its associates.

This specimen was soaked in acetone for a few days to prevent its gaster from shrivelling.

This image is from a CombineZP processed stack of 164 images with a 28 µm step taken with a Nikon CFN Plan 4X 0.13 NA microscope objective + adapter/extension tube + Nikon D300 camera.

Images of this individual: tag all
Formica sp. worker, dorsal - Formica aserva - female Formica sp. worker, anterior - Formica aserva - female Formica sp. worker, ventral - Formica aserva - female Formica sp. worker, lateral - Formica aserva - female

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