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Photo#316604
Ant Behaviour Question - Formica glacialis

Ant Behaviour Question - Formica glacialis
47.58233N 52.69247W (WGS84), St. John's, Northeast Avalon, Newfoundland/Labrador, Canada
August 5, 2009
Size: 1.8 cm
The ant that looks like it is praying seemed to be dead and ‘frozen’ in that position. Other ants were walking past it in oblivion to their apparently dead cousin. Only once, as seen in this photo, did a live ant stop to check things out before moving on. My question is what could cause an ant to die so quickly that it would go into rigor that would keep it in that position? This seemed very odd to me

Images of this individual: tag all
Ant Behaviour Question - Formica glacialis Ant Behaviour Question - Formica glacialis

Moved
Moved from Ants.

Probably sick.
This ant probably is stunned (not actually dead, yet) by microbe or parasite infection. The common species that looks like this in Labrador is Formica glacialis, very likely what this is.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

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