Its been to long since my last post so here are some updates. First here are some ant pictures. I believe they are Formica aserva, witch is a species of slave-maker ant. It is still not positive on the i.d. because I don't have anything to make out the small feature that confirms it. If it is F. aserva, it would be able to survive with out slaves in the colony, but if it comes to a host species nest they may create a raiding party, infiltrate the nest, steal as much pupae as possible and return to the nest. Once in the nest some pupae are eaten while others are raised by the large aserva workers to hatch inside the nest. Once an ant becomes an adult it adopts the scent of the colony then believes she is the daughter of the slave-maker queen. The enslaved workers then feed and raise the brood of colony. Though they are slaves, they are treated like they are sisters and aren't really mistreated or abused in any way. The next picture is of a Bombus impatiens worker, witch is a species of bumble bee. I was lucky enough to catch it in midflight.
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