Myrmecos

These aren’t eggs…

Posted by Alex Wild on January 27, 2010
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…they’re something far more interesting.

Ten points to the first person who identifies the orange balls.  These were photographed inside a termite nest in southern Illinois last fall.

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Comments

  1. #1 norwegica
    January 27, 2010

    How about fungi/fungal balls?

  2. #2 Scott
    January 27, 2010

    Egg-mimicking fungus…

  3. #3 myrmecos
    January 27, 2010

    Wow, you guys are fast!

  4. #4 Neil
    January 27, 2010

    3 vote for fungus. They look like the Fibularhizoctonia sclerotia reported by Matsuura et al. 2000.

  5. #5 Yannick Wurm
    January 27, 2010

    I believe the official term is “Termite Balls”

  6. #6 Troy
    January 27, 2010

    I’ve seen those! See my photo here:

    http://bugguide.net/node/view/658/bgimage

  7. #7 Roberta
    January 28, 2010

    Snail eggs?

  8. #8 Roberta
    January 28, 2010

    Okay, I missed the fungus answer. Hey, it’s early in the morning here. :-)

  9. #9 nina
    April 21, 2010

    Tell me now!