A gallery of Cephalotes turtle ants, some of my all time favorite insects.

#Ants #Insects #Cephalotes

https://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Cephalotes/

Cephalotes - Alex Wild

is a diverse genus of heavily-armored, tree-dwelling myrmicine ants found in forested regions of the new world tropics and subtropics. A number of canopy species show the unusual habit of controlled gliding flight when knocked from tree branches. Most species are polymorphic, having a "soldier" caste with an enlarged head used for blocking the nest entrances as a living door.

@alexwild @nev Those are some wild-looking critters.
@alexwild is it the door bouncer of the ant world?
@alexwild some of them are specialised to perfectly block entrances with their heads??