With the inferno summer sweltering on here in Illinois, the last of the Brood XIX 13-year periodical cicadas have dropped. We won’t be hearing them again until 2024, but their biomass is already filtering back through the forest ecosystem. I recently caught Camponotus chromaiodes in the act of scavenging the carcasses.
photo details:
(top)Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x lens on a Canon EOS 50D
ISO 100, f/13, 1/250 sec, diffuse twin flash
(bottom)Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens on a Canon EOS 50D
ISO 100, f/14, 1/200 sec, diffuse overhead flash
A personal blog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Do they break them up before taking them into the nest? Great pictures as ever!
You might be jealous if you see July in East Anglia – http://twitpic.com/5uo56j
I admit I’m salivating a bit right now…
inferno? Bah! It hasn’t dropped below a high of 90 in Tuscaloosa since May! I am terrified!!!!
Beats a mile high glacier bearing down on Chicago and New York by a long shot, LOL. Now THAT would truly be terrifying since at least summer goes away in a few months.
Saw so many Camponotus today(in Pa)!!!
It’s hard to appreciate how many Camponotus there are in the world (species, yes, but here I mean individuals). At this hot time of year they become very active, but mostly only after it becomes fully dark. When it 90F outside at 10 pm, walking across a university campus or other place with both trees and paved and lighted walkways will reveal them running all over the place in surprising numbers!