#silver ant

I've said it before... Cataglyphis bombycina sounds like an ant made up by a 6-year old:

"they are the fastest ants in the whole world and and- " "they live in the desert and and and-" "they only go out when it's the hottest time of the day and and-" "they use the sun to tell where their home is like sailors and and-" "they are SILVER and shiny and and" "they have majors with the BIGGEST mandibles of all!"

Cataglyphis bombycina, the Saharan silver ant has majors with very long mandibles. I'm looking for the reason for these long rather wide mandibles, suspect it may be for grabbing larger dead creatures and draging them back to the nest…

Notably the majors do not forage at all in the species but they could be called to a bonanza of food and haul it back?

The majors also act as repletes holding food in their bodies and by laying trophic eggs.

The mandibles could also serve to intimidate vertebrates. (It'd work on me. )

They can run at two miles per hour… which for something this small is insane.

They leave the nest at the height of noon meandering and searching for food. As soon as they find food they are able to run directly back to the nest, no back-tracking. They use polarized light and landmarks to determine the direction of home.

I don’t have an Etsy or anything like that yet. So if you wanna buy one (or 20) of these bad boys, shoot me a message on here and I’ll give you my venmo and get your shipping info. $5 flat with free shipping. All proceeds will go to the same thing as my GoFundMe- to help me pay for chapter 7 bankruptcy so I can get a fresh start and finally work towards opening my home to adults with disabilities.

You can get these in basically any color or finish (glossy or matte). I have a huge supply of vinyl I’ve collected over the years. So just let me know which design, what color and what finish you’d like. I’ll have more designs coming soon. If you have something custom you’d like as a vinyl sticker in this same vein, just hit me up and I’ll take a look and more thank likely will be able to make it for you!

You may have seen my post about my GoFundMe. Basically: I have to file bankruptcy and I don’t have the money for the legal fees. I’m doing everything I can from selling my stuff on eBay to asking strangers on the internet to give me money. Every dollar helps.

Well, I’ve now stumbled into trying to raise money by making stuff. I am not a professional. Far from it. In fact, I’m barely self-taught and constantly have to google how to do the things that I want to do. But I’m trying my best. I’ve chosen a name, made a little logo and have made a few designs for stickers. I have a list of items to create but as I also still work full time, it’ll take a bit for me to get to everything.