myrmecos.net

Mycocepurus smithii
Central America


 

photograph © Alex Wild 2007

The white strands seen in this ant nest are made of a living fungus.  This fungus is cultivated by the ants as their sole source of food.

 
Collected in Panama; Laboratory colony at the University of Texas.


This image is copyrighted by the photographer and cannot be used without permission. To obtain permission to use this image, please email Alex Wild. (alwild (at) myrmecos.net).  Most of the photographs on myrmecos.net are reduced from their original size and compressed for more efficient web transmission.  In some cases, higher quality versions are available.

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