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Post by cabintom on Aug 10, 2016 11:04:32 GMT
Caught 24/VII/2016 Nebobongo, Haut-Uele (2°27'N, 27°38'E) 770m  Close-Up:  ( To zoom-in more click here) I'm willing to bet no one else sets their ants in the same way I do.  |
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Post by mcheki on Aug 10, 2016 19:23:28 GMT
F ANT astic!! Sorry!
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Post by cabintom on Aug 11, 2016 7:21:39 GMT
Oh nothing to be sorry about! In truth, I didn't anticipate catching anything like this.  |
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Post by nomad on Aug 23, 2016 19:31:22 GMT
Aberration antibodies. |
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Post by Adam Cotton on Aug 23, 2016 23:17:06 GMT
Hopefully Tom will keep up the antics. Adam. |
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Post by africaone on Aug 24, 2016 6:05:24 GMT
seems to be a Tetraponera. An ant that lives exclusively with Barteria tree (species-specific mutualistic relation), a Passifloracae. Probably the butterfly tried to land on a tree and has been attacked by it, defending the tree. This tree is also the foodplant of at least one species of Acrea (Young feet not yet colonised by the ant) and a Sesiidae (Tinthia lambornella) inside the branches. This tree is also called "arbre de l'infidélité" in Cameroun because infidel women were attached to the tree trunk and died from bites of the ants (living in big colony) |
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Post by cabintom on Aug 24, 2016 11:32:58 GMT
seems to be a Tetraponera. An ant that lives exclusively with Barteria tree (species-specific mutualistic relation), a Passifloracae. Probably the butterfly tried to land on a tree and has been attacked by it, defending the tree. Thanks for confirming my suspicion! Those ants are nasty. I wear thick pants when I'm in the forest because of them. I netted an Osmodes thora which was perched on a bush just off the path. In order to reach it I had to take a few steps into the vegetation along the path. As I was examining my catch, I suddenly realized something was wrong... I jumped back and realized I had been practically standing on one of there "trees" (I think someone had previously tried knocking it over, as it was growing in a generally horizontal fashion). Thick pants saved me from innumerable nasty stings. Though the local boys would just pick them up without fear... mind you they also handle live coals with their bare fingers... maybe I'm just a wuss. |
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Post by africaone on Aug 24, 2016 11:47:21 GMT
seems to be a Tetraponera. An ant that lives exclusively with Barteria tree (species-specific mutualistic relation), a Passifloracae. Probably the butterfly tried to land on a tree and has been attacked by it, defending the tree. Thanks for confirming my suspicion! Those ants are nasty. I wear thick pants when I'm in the forest because of them. I netted an Osmodes thora which was perched on a bush just off the path. In order to reach it I had to take a few steps into the vegetation along the path. As I was examining my catch, I suddenly realized something was wrong... I jumped back and realized I had been practically standing on one of there "trees" (I think someone had previously tried knocking it over, as it was growing in a generally horizontal fashion). Thick pants saved me from innumerable nasty stings. Though the local boys would just pick them up without fear... mind you they also handle live coals with their bare fingers... maybe I'm just a wuss. the pants against ants in the forest are more again "red ants" or "magnans" (Dorylus genus and allied) that travel in big colonies on the soil. The case here are tree ants that bites you at man level (often coming via the hands) or fall on you when you disturb their tree. against magnans better than pants are rubber boots on wich the ants can't climb.
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Post by cabintom on Aug 24, 2016 15:22:13 GMT
the pants against ants in the forest are more again "red ants" or "magnans" (Dorylus genus and allied) that travel in big colonies on the soil. The case here are tree ants that bites you at man level (often coming via the hands) or fall on you when you disturb their tree. against magnans better than pants are rubber boots on wich the ants can't climb. Yes, true. Tucking your pants into your socks helps a lot too. But my negative experiences with these Tetraponera have always featured them stinging me below the waist... probably because I don't notice their smaller trees as readily as the normal sized ones. |
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Post by wollastoni on Aug 24, 2016 15:24:51 GMT
Ants are the main issue when collecting in the jungle.
I remember these tiny ant nests at about one or 2 meter high in Biak forest... you just don't see them and they "explode" in your head or on your arms... once you experienced this, you're far more careful... or you stick walking into the paths.
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Post by africaone on Aug 24, 2016 16:45:21 GMT
Ants are the main issue when collecting in the jungle. I remember these tiny ant nests at about one or 2 meter high in Biak forest... you just don't see them and they "explode" in your head or on your arms... once you experienced this, you're far more careful... or you stick walking into the paths. may be Tetramorium .... one species in Africa (T. africanum) is letal for man when hit bits at least 20 times. It lives in small nests done with leaves and are quite invisible without ant activity, including in orchards. It can be used as biological agent / control (ecological) to preserve orchad from predator without chemical.
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Post by wollastoni on Aug 24, 2016 16:56:12 GMT
No ideas about what they were, but I am glad that they were not lethal, because I have been bitten by many of them when I "met" their nest.
They were tiny and painful, in some small leaf nests. And they were rather common in that part of the forest.
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Post by wollastoni on Aug 24, 2016 16:57:39 GMT
This tree is also called "arbre de l'infidélité" in Cameroun because infidel women were attached to the tree trunk and died from bites of the ants (living in big colony) I love this ancestral good sense... |
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Post by africaone on Aug 24, 2016 19:51:13 GMT
No ideas about what they were, but I am glad that they were not lethal, because I have been bitten by many of them when I "met" their nest. They were tiny and painful, in some small leaf nests. And they were rather common in that part of the forest. there are hundreds species in this genus  |
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Post by cabintom on Sept 27, 2016 16:04:52 GMT
And you all thought I was just joking around! 21/VII/2016 Nebobongo, Haut-Uele (2°27'N, 27°38'E) 790m   It's not exactly A1 quality, I know, but when you are apparently in the hobby of collecting ants that have kicked the bucket while latched on to a butterfly you take what you can find. |
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