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Oecophylla smaragdina - Green Tree Ant
Queensland, Australia

photograph © Alex Wild 2004

Tending scale insects inside a folded leaf shed.  In addition to making woven silk and leaf nests to house their colonies, weaver ants of this species will also make protective sheds for honeydew producing insects by folding leaves over and securing them with silk producing by the ants' larvae.


  
Australia, QLD: Cape Tribulation National Park 
1 km NW Cape Tribulation
30.viii.2004  16º03.981'S 145º27.822'E, 5m
Littoral vegetation along beach.
#AW2587, voucher specimens deposited at ALWC

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 D60, with a Canon 65/2.8 MPE 1-5x Macro lens.