Watchful little leaf cutter ant sits on a leaf while the worker ants carry the leaves to the nest. This little ant keeps an eye out for a parasitic fly that can lay eggs in the worker’s head, eventually decapitating them.

Back in 2009, I was a resident naturalist at a lodge called Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica. There, I was able to observe many of the fascinating ant species found around the lodge. My responsibilities there included locating ‘good’ ants (i.e. ants tourists might like to see and learn about) and also writing up short articles to give to the tour guides working at the lodge. I also taught them about the ants in weekly classes.

Just recently, my friend Emily Meineke asked me to review a blog post she’s writing about insect-fungus interactions, and it reminded me about the work I did back in 2009. So, I dug up all the reports I wrote, and decided to make use of them, and post them on my blog.

As a disclosure, I cannot guarantee that the ant pictures in the articles are properly identified, as I didn’t know how to ID insects back then. To ID them, I observed their nests, their foraging behavior, their host plants and collected a few specimens from the nests. I then searched and searched online to see if I could find a match. So, they may in fact be correctly IDed, but they may not be.

If you have any additional information or if you think I should correct something, I’d be happy to hear from you.