Central Catchment Nature Reserve
North, Singapore
August 2013
It was one of the cooler days out there when termites and ants abound in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.
Both ants and termites live in colonies or nests where one or relatively few individuals reproduce while non-reproductive individuals cooperate to care for brood, maintain the nest, and defend the colony. These features - reproductive division of labor (only the queens lay eggs), overlapping generations (you have all ages in the nest), and cooperative brood care (all individuals care for the young, not just the queens) - are hallmarks of eusociality, a condition achieved in relatively few insects.
These are termites. They have straight antennae that appear like a string of tiny beads. In termites the body segments are much more broadly attached.
And these are ants. They have elbowed antennae, where the first segment is much longer than the segments that follow. Ants also have a characteristically constricted "waist" while termites do not.
Busy ants swarming around...
Ants on a tightrope and ants with food...
A spiny ant with spikes from its metasoma (abdomen)...
The most obvious difference is that termites usually avoid light, and are usually visible only before noon when the sun is still not too hot.
A worker ant balancing itself on a stalk with a dew-dropped fruit..
Elimination - The best way to get rid of termites, which probably explains why the NParks contractor was hacking this bit of termite-trailed wooden boardwalk out...
Some other interesting finds - a red-eyed fly, a slim wasp and a limping long-tailed macaque...
A tree stands tall where scores of dragonflies reside...
An orb-weaver advances on a fly entwined in its web and injects its fangs into its struggling prey...
Nearby, a St Andrew's Cross (Argiope) and an orb weaver lay in wait...
A pair of adorable Treehoppers with their distinctive spikes and beady eyes...
That's a pretty flower? But wait...
See that little dot on one of its petals?
It's a curious little spider - a female Phintella vittata (Banded Phintella) jumper...
On another leaf, a male Phintella versicolor (Multi-Coloured Phintella) lands on its waxy surface...
A Bronchocela cristatella (Crested Green Lizard) peeks cautiously from a bush...
(See how flexible its legs are?)
Feeling safer, it wanders out...
A very attractive little one with its pale blue markings and orange eyes...
More photos are available on :
Sources
- "What's the difference between an ant and a termite?" by AntAsk (16 April 2010). AntBlog. Retrieved on 18 June 2014 from http://www.antweb.org/antblog/2010/04/whats-the-difference-between-an-ant-and-a-termite-eric-from-sheboygan-wi.html.
