Flying Ant portrait

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lauriek
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Flying Ant portrait

Post by lauriek »

Can you tell if this is a male or female from the face? I'd be interested to know, somehow it looks male to me but I have no idea at all really! ;)

Found this evening, extremely warm and humid and half raining, I saw a load last week as well that looked the same as this one...

Image

I suspect this could be a Lasius as it's reminiscent of my first ant stack http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=4727

Stack of 115 images with Nikon 10x at near minimum bellows extension.

Interesting note, I found I can use this lens at absolute minimum extension on the bellows, I don't know exactly how much extension that is but it's a lot less than the 190mm or so this lens should require. Guess that's due to the 4/3 sized sensor in my camera.. I assume it would work very near minimum extension on an APS sensor cam as well...

nto
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Post by nto »

Laurie, to identify male or female, I think we should have vision antennas,line segments 4 to 12 for females, higher for males,
spanish information here
, light photo always very beautiful
Antonio

acerola
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Post by acerola »

I think it is the female. Females are lot bigger at the lasius ants. Almost 1 cm long. Females has reserve for the first generation of ants. While male has only one purpose, to mate.
And beside, the males has quite different head. I have one in my freezer waiting to stack, but I have no time recently for it. Did you know that males are haploids meaning that they have half the chromosomes in number than female ants? I think thats why they are different
Péter

lauriek
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Post by lauriek »

Thanks guys!

Peter, this specimen is around 1cm long!

I didn't know that about the male ants chromosomes but I did know their only purpose is to breed... Do they actually just die afterwards? Look forward to your male ant stack! :)

acerola
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Post by acerola »

Yes they die after breed. But they survive in a way. Their sperm is stored inside the female as long as the queen lives. The queens mate only one day mostly. And some queen lives as long as 20-25 years. So a lucky male has children 25 years after its death.
Péter

acerola
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Post by acerola »

Here is the portrait of the male ant. It seems different species don't you think?

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=5452
Péter

Cyclops
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Post by Cyclops »

Great shot,love its 'expression'
Canon 5D and 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope

Harold Gough
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Post by Harold Gough »

acerola wrote:Yes they die after breed. But they survive in a way. Their sperm is stored inside the female as long as the queen lives. The queens mate only one day mostly. And some queen lives as long as 20-25 years. So a lucky male has children 25 years after its death.
That's five times as long as the case in the honey bee. The drone's genitalia detach and remain inserted in those of the queen some some time, so perhaps his interest in life would be somewhat diminished anyway. :)

Harold
My images are a medium for sharing some of my experiences: they are not me.

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