An Amazonian queen (center) and her kingdom: three workers (yellow), pupae, larvae, and eggs. In the foreground, two cochineals are the food source. Elongated twig ants (Pseudomyrmex) raise the small white bugs, which feed on sap and secrete a sugary substance that nourishes the farmers. The larvae, meanwhile, eat the cochineals themselves. The small community, depicted on a black background, was removed from its nest at the swollen base of a Tachigali myrmecophila leaf. Biologist Paulo Pacheco Junior studied the architecture and composition of these nests and observed that the founding queen is already fertilized when she starts the colony, bringing her cattle with her.
Image submitted by Paulo Pacheco Junior of the State University of Amapá, winner of the 2023 CNPq Photography Award in Science and Art
Republish