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Acromyrmex versicolor - Desert Leaf-Cutter Ant Queen
Arizona, USA

photograph © Alex Wild 2007

A young queen leafcutter ant in her incipient fungus garden.  The fungus, seen here as the fuzzy white material, grows on bits of leaves that the ants provide it. Also visible here to the left of the queen are the ants' larvae, which live in the garden consuming the fungus.

 
USA AZ Pima Co.: Tucson.
Laboratory colony at the University of Arizona.

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 MPE 65mm 1-5x macro lens.