New photos of trampy myrmicines up at myrmecos.net

Solenopsis geminata, the tropical fire ant.

Solenopsis geminata, the tropical fire ant

The latest upload concerns three species in the subfamily myrmicinae that have been traveling about the globe with human commerce.  Solenopsis geminata, the tropical fire ant, is the most worrying of these tramps, but the other two, Pheidole moerens and P. obscurithorax, are rather poorly known and probably merit more study than they receive.  Click to visit the gallery.

Incidentally, if I'd known at the time that Solenopsis geminata confers hero status on their collectors, I'd defintely have spent more time pointing them out to everyone within earshot when I photographed these in Durban, South Africa last year.

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