ANTSTORE World of Ants

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I spent some time in Madagascar right at the end of 2006. I particularly enjoyed a visit to Marojejy national park which contains a variety of montane rainforest. Marojejy only has about 300 visitors per year, and half of these are academics. It's extremely remote and contains a large number of endemic species, and that's within Madagascar where 80%+ species are endemic. I thought I might share some of the ant pics that I took. Please keep in mind a number of factors which meant getting really great pics was difficult.

1. The terrain was extremely tough, and the conditions less than ideal. This meant that my girlfriend and I were pushed to our physical limits. Sometimes tiredness took precedence over getting good focus.

2. We didn't have the camera we have now.

3. We were constantly being attacked by leeches. If you stood still, they crawled up your legs. It was too hot for full trousers.

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Large Odontomachus species

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Same species. Poor focus, but you can see the 2 sensory hairs that trigger the mandibles, if you look closely. These ants would've been approx. 15mm in length.

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At one point I saw a small swarm raid by what I believed to be an Amblypone species. About 50 ants gradually moved as a swarm in an amoeba like fashion. They then attacked an Odontomachus nest which was concealed under the leaflitter. The Odontomachus workers responded by rapidly leaving the nest carrying whatever brood they could and retreated 50 cm or so and waited still. The worker in this picture is holding 2 eggs in it's long mandibles.

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I would estimate that the Odontomachus nest only contained 20 or so workers. Here you can see some of the Amblypone ants in their swarm. One of them is carrying an oddly shaped Odontomachus larvae. I presume they were going to eat it, along with the rest of the brood they captured.

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Close up of larvae

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Odontomachus from below

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I believe these ants to be Crematogaster (please correct me if I'm wrong). They lived in large carton nests in trees. The flower to the left in this picture is a wild ginger. These ants were more often seen at higher altitudes.

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Crematogaster carton nest. Approx 80 cm x 50 cm

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There were many, many other species of ants. Numerous different pheidole, camponotus etc. But I didn't get good pics of most of them.

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These white jointed camponotus ants were regularly observed. Even when we ate.

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Another angle

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Excuse the dirty fingernail. It was tough there.

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This mimic even had me fooled for a good while. I saw quite a few before I caught one. The front pair of legs were generally held off the ground and moved as though they were antennae. When I caught one - it jumped, and then I saw its eyes. A spider, ant mimic.

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Note, the very unusual abdomen shape, for a spider.