David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital
Video Images
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Hymenoptera 59 – Harvester Ants
HARVESTER ANTS Messor
sp.
HARVESTER ANTS Messor
sp.
HARVESTER ANTS Messor
sp.
HARVESTER ANTS Messor
sp.
HARVESTER ANTS Messor
sp.
HARVESTER
ANTS Messor sp.
·
These
reddish Harvester Ants are presumed to belong to the genus Messor but
the exact species is unknown – possibilities include M. barbarus or M. structor.
They were photographed in the South of France and they were endeavouring to either
move or dismember a recently deceased female Wall Brown Butterfly Lasiommata megera
that had worn herself out after several consecutive very hot and sunny days
spent feeding on Lavender Lavandula sp.. Most reference
photographs of Messor spp. are of blacker ants
than those shown here. These ants possess three sub-types of workers with
different functions and conspicuously variable morphology with some examples
having relatively enormous heads and substantial jaws. Most workers are very
tiny (a comparison with the butterfly will give a good idea of scale) and
therefore difficult to photograph at sufficient magnification to show much
anatomical detail.
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