June’s mysteries will be informal. We’re starting mid-month with no point tally. Still, I’m blogging again and it’d be a shame to let Monday evenings go to waste.
Here’s a bug’s-eye perspective of a Brazilian entomological phenomenon:
What is that looming tower of…stuff?
And, what species made it?
Hum… brazilians can answer that?
Sim!
Is it an Acromyrmex’s nest entrance? About the specific epithet, I give up…
Well, that is a nest of Camponotus rufipes… right?
Gabi got it!
Just to keep the guessing alive, I’m going to guess fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) in native habitat.
My initial impression was an ant’s ommatidium view of a Formica obscuripes/F. rufa group thatch nest. This in the tropics though? I can’t wait to see the constructor!
And because I don’t know how to edit posts: that stuff looks like grass culms and sundry twigs.
What we have here is the home of the rarely seen and never photographed Brazilian Beaver Beetle (Castorptera braziliensis). Alex failed to mention that he’s standing neck-deep in a swamp with camera held precariously above the water’s surface and anacondas winding between his ankles. What makes the Brazilian Beaver Bug unique is the communal lodge built from the empty carcasses of thousands of stick insects that are glued together with the spittle of symbiotic spittle bugs. Had Alex gotten any closer, I’m sure his spindly form would be seized upon by the BBBs to repair a nearby dam.
Excellent work bringing this species to light Alex, and I can’t wait to see what other incredible insects you came across in your travels!
Ha!
OK, I have to keep my mouth shut. But I can at least say that someone is already right!
My first thought is that it’s a nest of Camponotus rufipes, but since I’m far from the first to say so, no points, no prize. Different perspective than any from which I’ve ever looked at one before.
B.t.w. Morgan, there is documentation of at least one ant using spittlbug foam to stick its nest together. Formica montana in Wisconsin.
Ooops, faulty memory! The spittle was used to make aphid tents: Henderson, G.
PREDATION ON CERCOPIDS AND MATERIAL USE OF THE SPITTLE IN APHID-TENT CONSTRUCTION BY PRAIRIE ANTS* – available on line
Ha! Evidence that even the most imaginative ideas have already been seized upon by insects. Thanks for the reference!
its Tuesday…what’s the answer? 🙂
Patience, young Jedi. I’m working on it.
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