Photographs by Daniel Kronauer
You are welcome to use the pictures on this page for non-commercial purposes such as lectures and scientific publications as long as you notify me beforehand that you are going to use the pictures (dkron(at)fas.harvard.edu) and you present them with proper attribution. I will be happy to provide high resolution versions and more detailed information on the pictures upon request.
Click on thumbnails to enlarge:
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Acanthoponera spec.; subfamily Heteroponerinae. Itatiaia / Brazil. Species of Acanthoponera seem to be generally arboreal and nocturnal, but very little is known about their life-history. | |
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Acromyrmex spec.; subfamily Myrmicinae. Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira / Brazil. This picture shows an Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ant in action. Leaf-fragments are transported back to the nest and used to cultivate a mutualistic fungus, the main food source of the ants. | |
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Acropyga spec.; subfamily Formicinae. Naha / Okinawa / Japan. Ants of the genus Acropyga are best known for tending subterranean mealybugs. The picture shows a worker at the nest entrance. | |
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Amblyopone spec.; Amblyoponinae; Manhattan / Kansas / USA. These ants are predatory, and some species are specialized on centipedes. | |
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Anoplolepis gracilipes; Naha / Okinawa. The yellow crazy ant is a notorious invasive species with polygynous colonies. The picture shows a queen with workers. | |
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Ant garden; San Carlos de Rio Negro / Venezuela. In Neotropical rainforests, some ant species bring seeds of specialized epiphytes into their carton nests. The plants are nourished by the carton and detritus, while the ants feed on fruit pulp, elaiosomes, and extrafloral nectaries. Typical ant genera that construct ant gardens are Crematogaster, Solenopsis, Azteca, Camponotus, and Monacis. Ant gardens often house ant species pairs, an association that has been termed “parabiosis” by Forel. | |
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Ants are popular models, in this case for an ant mimicking true bug (note the large rostrum); Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira / Brazil. | |
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Azteca spec.; subfamily Dolichoderinae; Itatiaia / Brazil. Azteca ants and Cecropia trees constitute one of the best known ant-plant mutualisms. As seen in the picture, the ants nest in hollow stem cavities. In addition to nesting sites, they also obtain food from the plants and in turn defend their hosts against herbivores. | |
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Stingless bee (Apidae / Meliponini); Puerto Ayacucho / Venezuela | |
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Bees collecting clay; San Carlos de Rio Negro / Venezuela | |
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Bee foraging on flower; Camargue / France | |
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Camponotus spec.; subfamily Formicinae; San Carlos de Rio Negro / Venezuela. A Camponotus worker feeding on extrafloral nectaries. | |
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Camponotus spec.; subfamily Formicinae; Puerto Ayacucho / Venezuela. A Camponotus worker tending hemipterans for honeydew. | |
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Cephalotes spec.; subfamily Myrmicinae; Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira / Brazil. A Cephalotes worker has been trapped in tree resin, the first step towards an amber fossil. | |
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Cephalotes spec.; subfamily Myrmicinae; Alter do Chao / Brazil. The picture shows a Cephalotes turtle ant tending a caterpillar for sugary secretions. | |
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A Cephalotes mimicking jumping spider; Floresta de Tapajos / Brazil | |
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Daceton armigerum; subfamily Myrmicinae; San Carlos de Rio Negro / Venezuela. Daceton are predatory canopy ants of the Amazon Basin with impressive trap-mandibles. | |
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Daceton armigerum; subfamily Myrmicinae; Floresta de Tapajos / Brazil. Daceton are predatory canopy ants of the Amazon Basin with impressive trap-mandibles. | |
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Dorylus molestus; subfamily Dorylinae; Mount Kenya / Kenya. Soldiers are guarding an army ant emigration (note the white brood being carried in the background). | |
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Eciton burchellii; subfamily Ecitoninae; Parque Nacional Henri Pittier / Venezuela. Unlike most other ants, army ants do not build permanent nests but instead form so-called bivouacs, similar to a honeybee swarm. | |
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Eciton burchellii; subfamily Ecitoninae; Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira / Brazil. A raiding column of army ants returns to the bivouac. | |
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Eciton burchellii; subfamily Ecitoninae; Parque Nacional Henri Pittier / Venezuela. A newly eclosed army ant male walks in the emigration column of its mother colony. | |
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Eciton hamatum; subfamily Ecitoninae; San Carlos de Rio Negro / Venezuela. Food laden army ant workers return to the nest after a successful raid. | |
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Ectatomma spec.; subfamily Ectatomminae; Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira / Brazil. | |
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Ectatomma spec.; subfamily Ectatomminae; Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira / Brazil. Ectatomma workers tending membracids for honeydew. | |
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Formica spec.; subfamily Formicinae; Derborence / Switzerland. A Formica nest mound in the Swiss Alps. | |
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Formica spec.; subfamily Formicinae; Lac de Tanney / Switzerland. A worker on the nest mound. | |
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Gigantiops destructor; subfamily Formicinae; Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira / Brazil. Gigantiops are predatory ants (e.g. on termites) with huge eyes and great visual abilities. | |
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Myrmcia spec.; subfamily Myrmicinae; southern Sweden. Myrmica ants tending pupae of parasitic Maculinea butterflies. The butterflies are adopted into the ant colony as young caterpillars, where they are either fed by the ants or directly feed on the ant brood. The adult butterflies leave the ant colony upon eclosure from the cocoon. | |
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Odontomachus spec.; subfamily Ponerinae; Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira / Brazil. Odontomachus are ponerine trap-jaw ants. | |
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Pachycondyla spec.; subfamily Ponerinae; San Carlos de Rio Negro / Venezuela. A Pachycondyla ant has been infected and killed by a Cordyceps fungus. The fungus alters the ant’s behaviour so that it climbs up vegetation and attaches there before it dies. This presumably helps the fungus to disperse. | |
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Pachycondyla spec.; subfamily Ponerinae; Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira / Brazil. | |
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Pachycondyla chinensis; subfamily Ponerinae; Naha / Okinawa / Japan. A native Asian, this species has become introduced in many parts of the world, including the USA. | |
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David and Goliath in the ant world: Crematogaster spec. (subfamily Myrmicinae) workers feed on a dead Paraponera clavata bullet ant (subfamily Paraponerinae); San Carlos de Rio Negro / Venezuela. | |
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Pheidole parva; subfamily Myrmicinae; Naha / Okinawa / Japan. Pheidole ants have small normal workers and much larger, big headed soldiers. Pheidole parva is a small tramp species. | |
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Pseudomyrmex spec.; subfamily Pseudomyrmecinae; Lencois / Brazil. Worker of a soil nesting Pseudomyrmex species at the funnel shaped nest entrance. | |
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Pseudomyrmex spec.; subfamily Pseudomyrmecinae; Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira / Brazil. Worker of a Pseudomyrmex species at the nest entrance in a plant stem. | |
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Strumigenys spec.; subfamily Myrmicinae; Sashiki Sashiki castle ruins / Okinawa / Japan. Strumigenys are small myrmicine trap-jaw ants. | |
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Technomyrmex brunneus; subfamily Dolichoderinae; Naha / Okinawa / Japan. Technomyrmex brunneus (formerly T. albipes) is a notorious tramp ant. The picture shows workers tending hemipterans. | |
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Termite queen and soldier; Yona field station / Okinawa / Japan. | |
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Paper wasp (Polistinae) on nest; Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira / Brazil. | |
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Polistes paper wasp on nest; Derborence / Switzerland | |
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Paper wasp (Polistinae) foraging on flower; Itatiaia / Brazil | |
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A parasitic wasp (Chalcididae) on the larval case of a “bag worm” butterfly (Psychidae). The larvae of Chalcididae are parasitic on butterfly or fly larvae. “Bag worm” larval cases are made from trimmed plant fragments sutured with silk. Lencois / Brazil. | |
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Spider hunting wasp; Parque Nacional Henri Pittier / Venezuela. | |
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Velvet ant (Mutilidae); Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira / Brazil. |
