I'm busy today with lab work. But if you need an ant blog fix, let me point you in the direction of "Historias de Hormigas" ("Stories of Ants"). It's a Spanish blog by José MarÃa Gómez Durán, and the current entry is an amazing series of action shots documenting an ant-hunting Crabronid wasp.
- Log in to post comments
I've heard of Braconid wasps but /never/ of Crabonids!
~Kai
Crabronidae = most of the former Sphecidae
(Sphecidae in the old sense is paraphyletic wrt bees...)
Amazing! Of all the ants on which to prey, the foul-tasting Tapinoma -- Ptooey!
Reminds me of another underutilized host or prey resource for a hymenopteran I learned about recently, Braconidae: Elasmosoma on Formica. http://bugguide.net/node/view/280158
And isn't there a group that uses Pogonomyrmex, also?
Not far from Tracheliodes I saw this insect hovering over a line of Lasius sp on a wall. It could stay completely still in the air for several minutes, at a distance less than 1 cm from the ants:
http://picasaweb.google.es/josemarygd/ZoologyAlbum#5398104725677141538