Ant Beauty Contest: Winner and Honorable Mentions
No one is surprised that the "Blue Ant" Echinopla striata won the contest. Blue is among the most rare colors in nature, and even more rare among ants. A blue ant? Unforgettable!
In Second Place we have Tetramorium pulcherrimum, the "Teddy Bear Ant" -- we have the photos of Alex Wild to thank for this species being so loved. If you only knew this ant by her much more numerous cousins Tetramorium immigrans (these are the pavement ants that have those huge ant wars on summer sidewalks, I made a video about this war-like species, hard to imagine the Teddy Bear ant going to war!) she might not be as popular-- but careful macrophotography has helped us to see that this Tetramorium has soft fuzzy fur, probably to help her in her mossy home environment. In Third Place we have a tie! Cephalotes clypeatus and Dorylus sp. Could not be more different (in personality and appearance!) but both of these girls are unforgettable, sculptural, and lovely! If you took the concept of "bite" and distilled its essence into a little creature the Dorylus solider is what you'd get. She is "to bite" made incarnate. She has one purpose in life: to defend her nest, especially her queen (and the Dorylus queens are among the strangest ants on the planet!) Remarkably if her colony and queen should die she will join another colony-- something very rare in adult ants. She just wants a chance to bite someone who deserves it!
On the other hand we have Cephalotes clypeatus -- the Amber Turtle Ants. Turtle ants are generally some of my personal favorite ants. (There are a few species that live in the south in the US even! So I might get to meet these ants in the wild some day!)
Just look at these adorable sisters guarding their nest! Look at the way only their little mandibles peek out at the bottom! Their eyes are tucked under their shields too and they can tuck their antennae in if they need to. They are ready for all the challenges of life! These ants don't just look cute in photos, the way they move is adorable. Here is a video of their less showy cousins from the Amazon:
[Video Description: Black flat turtle ants move around on a log. They run a little and interact with each other, an old ant carries her younger sister to a new nest, turtle ants groom themselves carefully.] "Turtle Ants" are amazing and it's fitting they won 3rd place. We've hardly scratched the surface when it comes to ant diversity! For example, what about the Dorylus solider's mother? What about the many Camponotus species? What about the Giant Forest Ants? The ant beauty contest proves that ants are everywhere and they are serving looks!
