Wednesday, October 17, 2007

False Honey ant - Prenolepis imparis

This photo of a False Honey ant is unremarkable in that it is not too sharp and could be better lit. One thing I do like about it though is that it shows the ant's glossa (tongue) very clearly. I only recently learned what they were called. I believe they function to help ants drink up liquids. False Honey ants seem to be big fans of nectar from flowers and from aphids, so it makes sense that they would have proportionally large glossa. I believe they have two shorter and two longer strands to their glossa.