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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#999218
ant behavior
Copyright © 2014 Charles Schurch Lewallen

ant behavior
Henryetta, Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, USA
September 21, 2014
What are these ants getting from the seed pods of this trumpet vine?
tag · login or register to post comments
Contributed by Charles Schurch Lewallen on 21 September, 2014 - 11:30am

nectaries
Extra-floral nectaries at the base of each flower attract the ants by providing sugary food - see:

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/trumpet_creeper.htm

Looks like you have some carpenter ants (Camponotus - the larger ones) and acrobat ants (Crematogaster - with the up-turned heart shaped gaster)
… Seth Burgess, 1 October, 2014 - 4:52pm login or register to post comments

 
Ooops, Seth - Larger ants are
Ooops, Seth - Larger ants are in fact Formica pallidefulva group, and smaller is Crematogaster laeviuscula.
… James C. Trager, 12 October, 2014 - 1:48pm login or register to post comments

 
Oops indeed!
Yep, I goofed on this one. The slight OOF one really shows the profile. Thanks for the correction!
… Seth Burgess, 12 October, 2014 - 3:53pm login or register to post comments

 
ants
Thank You Seth.
I had never heard of extra-floral nectaries.
… Charles Schurch Lewallen, 2 October, 2014 - 7:40am login or register to post comments

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