Oecophylla longinoda, a species of
weaver ant found in the forested regions of tropical Africa. Weaver ants are
arboreal and known for their unique nest building behaviour, in which workers construct nests by weaving together leaves using larval
silk. These highly territorial ants live in colonies that can consist of more than a hundred nests spanning numerous trees and contain more than half a million workers. Like many other ant species, weaver ants prey on small insects and supplement their diet with carbohydrate-rich
honeydew excreted by small insects.
Photograph: Muhammad Mahdi Karim