Arizona contains one of the richest ant faunas in the United States, partly due to the mix of temperate and tropical elements that can coexist in Arizona's warm climate.  Among the more typically tropical ants that can be found here is the northernmost species of Cephalotes turtle ant, a group normally associated with the tropical rainforest canopy.  These heavily-armored arboreal ants nest in the Palo Verde trees that inhabit the foothill habitats of the Sonoran Desert.  Here, a worker is seen foraging on the green trunk of a Palo Verde near Tucson.

This image was captured with a Canon EOS 20D, using a Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens.