Golden Carpenter ants from my last trip to Costa Rica. They are huge, about 1.5cm. They build nests in wood. Unlike termites, they don’t eat the wood, they just make a home for themselves there. They don’t have stingers, but if disturbed too much, they can bite with their jaws (as seen in the photo on the left) and inject formic acid. Their distinctive feature is a golden abdomen. I’ll write about other notable leaf-cutter ants next time, half of my phone is full of them.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 