An Indonesian Zooillogix reader, Harianto Talim, grossly overestimated our entomological abilities and asked us to help him identify an Indonesian ant that he has never seen before. In this blurry series of photos, you can see that the ant is bright orange and green and may or may not smoke cigarettes. It should be noted however that when confronted about the lighter in the ant's pocket by its mother, the queen, the ant claimed it just carries the lighter around to light other ants' cigarettes to look cool.
So nerdy readers, time to prove your mettle by identifying this random blurry ant! There will be a prize for whomever figures it out or, alternatively, whomever provides the most patently untrue answer.
Comments
It is the Bornean Opal-Assed Ant, a species known for its absurd coloring and its tendency to turn up in houses. They are particularly fond of orangutan meat.
Posted by: Katharine | November 30, 2009 1:16 PM
Here is a good place to start. http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20o?guide=Ants_Indonesia
Posted by: Jim Thomerson | November 30, 2009 1:31 PM
Oecophylla queen ?
Posted by: neil | November 30, 2009 2:10 PM
neil - impressive
Posted by: Andrew B | November 30, 2009 2:21 PM
Easy, it's a gummy ant.
Posted by: Edman | November 30, 2009 2:59 PM
Neil nailed it! certainly a queen of the ant Oecophylla and the species being smaragdina.
Posted by: Ajay | November 30, 2009 10:49 PM
in the "real" answer category, neil wins the prize.
neil, i have to ask, how did you get that so quickly?
id also like to thank ajay, antologist extraodinaire for unwittingly judging the contest. http://web.mac.com/ajaynarendra/AjayNarendra/Home-Ajay.html
Posted by: Andrew B | December 1, 2009 9:48 AM
I vacuumed under the sofa cushions the other day and found a lighter, obviously for the same purpose.
Posted by: ym | December 1, 2009 4:35 PM
Orange and green is an exceptionally rare color combination in ants, and given the location and the size of the insect there is really only one option available.
These are apparently lemony in flavor and good on salad.
Posted by: Alex | December 4, 2009 1:10 PM
Woah, I had totally forgotten about this; but yeah as Alex noted, I'm just basically a genius. What do I win? A salad? A lighter? Lifetime's supply of free drinks at Benny's bar?
Posted by: neil | December 19, 2009 10:40 PM
neil - where do you live? that may help determine if your gift will survive the trip.
Posted by: Andrew B | December 21, 2009 3:42 PM
while I often love to play this game... I'm too late and there was too little info to really help much. :)
Cool picturs thoght! There are some really lovely hymenopterans out there. People get used to the usual ants or bees they see every day.
Posted by: arachnophile | December 23, 2009 11:19 PM
thankssss
Posted by: swinger | January 12, 2010 11:37 AM
this information most important for me.
thanks...
Posted by: sepetli vinç | January 15, 2010 4:17 PM
Neil nailed it! certainly a queen of the ant Oecophylla and the species being smaragdina.
Posted by: swinger | November 5, 2010 4:03 PM
Great idea! This is fun!
Posted by: evliçift | November 5, 2010 7:26 PM
How brilliant! I want to have something like that too! Designed to be more convenient!I loved it
Posted by: swinger | November 5, 2010 7:29 PM