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Taken 8-Feb-12
3 of 6 photos


Pyramid ant - Dorymyrmex insanus

Family Formicidae - Ants
Subfamily Dolichoderinae - Odorous Ants

Native antA recently mated female (queen) looking for a spot to dig a nest and start her colony hopefully before a predator finds her. Not a worker. You can tell by the much thicker thorax for the wing muscles and larger abdomen for laying eggs. After they mate in the air, queen ants discard their wings because they will never use them again,they will just be deep in the nest laying eggs producing mostly workers for a while and later winged alates. Females and males leave the nests to mate in the air the males just die shortly after mating.
OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. E-520, f/16 @ 300 mm, 1/180, ISO 400, Flash

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Keywords:Hymenoptera/ants -Formicidae/Pyramid ant - Dorymyrmex insanus, places/CA/Long Beach/LCWS/Los Cerritos Wetlands

Pyramid ant - Dorymyrmex insanus