myrmecos.net

Trachymyrmex sp.
Arizona, USA

photograph © Alex Wild 2005

A Trachymyrmex worker carrying a dead leaf back to her nest.  These ants are agriculturalists, cultivating an underground fungus that they feed with plant debris gathered from outside.  Trachymyrmex forage mostly on dead plant material, but their larger relatives, the leaf-cutter ants, cut live plant material for their fungus. 

 
USA AZ Cochise Co.: 3 km WNW Portal 
31º55.9'N 109º10.7'W 1600m Open Juniper woodland.  11.viii.2005 
Open Oak-Juniper Woodland.  #AW2678, voucher specimen 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.