myrmecos.net

Ectatomma tuberculatum
Panamá

photograph © Alex Wild 2007

Visitors to the rainforests of central and south America looking for ants will undoubtedly see Ectatomma.  These large ants are abundant in the forest understory.  Here, workers of Ectatomma tuberculatum guard extrafloral nectaries of an Inga sapling in a Panamanian forest.  They carry nectar in their open jaws, and the ant in the foreground shows a droplet on her left mandible.

 
Panamá: Canal Zone. Pipeline Road.
9.14ºN 79.72ºW 80m
vii.2007 Rainforest understory, ants tending nectaries on Inga sp.

This image is copyrighted by the photographer and cannot be used without permission. To obtain permission to use this image, please email Alex Wild. (alwild (at) myrmecos.net).  Most of the photographs on myrmecos.net are reduced from their original size and compressed for more efficient web transmission.  In some cases, higher quality versions are available.

This image was captured with a Canon EOS 20D, using a Canon 17-40mm wide-angle zoom lens with a 12mm extension tube.