Another photograph from my husband in Malaysia.
Ants? They look and act like ants, but they aren’t.
Can you tell what they are? Anyone know the species?
Another photograph from my husband in Malaysia.
Ants? They look and act like ants, but they aren’t.
Can you tell what they are? Anyone know the species?
Rove beetles of some sort? Through evolution over many millions of years, some rove beetle species have acquired ant-like traits that allow them to live safely in ant colonies where they feed on the colonies’ food and defenseless immatures. If not rove beetles, probably another parasitic insect that’s evolved ant-like traits to also live safely among ants. (Certain very small spider species, known as ant mimics, safely feed alongside ants on flowers and extrafloral nectaries.)
Hospitalitermes sp. ???
Processional termites does seem to be a good possibility.