Sadly, our cat caught an anole today. It shed its tail, but Kitty Lenore was focused on her quarry and walked off with the tailless lizard in her mouth. Fortunately, she doesn't seem to know she can eat a lizard. She dropped it, it shot off, and it escaped under the door to our laundry room -- to live on, I hope.

Not long thereafter, I found that ants were carrying the tail up a nearby wall!

@markproxy

I'm glad the anole got away. Poor little guy. I would like to identify these ants, but going just on size and gaster shape alone is risky. They look very small. Were they especially small (for ants)? It could be Monomorium sp. but they could also be Paratrechina longicornis which is invasive, but largely naturalized.

The social carrying makes me think it's Paratrechina longicornis (aka "crazy ants" though that common name is no good it's used for too many sp.)

@futurebird

Anteresting.

@markproxy

@markproxy

I'm glad the anole got away. Poor little guy. I would like to identify these ants, but going just on size and gaster shape alone is risky. They look very small. Were they especially small (for ants)? It could be Monomorium sp. but they could also be Paratrechina longicornis which is invasive, but largely naturalized.

The social carrying makes me think it's Paratrechina longicornis (aka "crazy ants" though that common name is no good it's used for too many sp.)

@futurebird The ants are in Mérida, Yucatán. A little larger than the ants I'm most familiar with from growing up in the Midwest.

@futurebird The ants are in Mérida, Yucatán. A little larger than the ants I'm most familiar with from growing up in the Midwest.

@futurebird Update: The tail is still in the same area. The ants who were moving it must have given up. And a new species has moved in, now that it's after dark. Smaller.

@markproxy

The first group of ants were probably trying to get it far enough away that these ants wouldn't take over. Sometimes they will bury a large item like that. I would have loved to watch "the change over"

Paratrechina longicornis likes to run around in the sun and stay warm. Might come back when the sun is out again.

@futurebird Here's a video of the first group. (This is my first time posting a video straight to Mastodon. Let me know if it doesn't come through properly.)

@markproxy

I'm glad the anole got away. Poor little guy. I would like to identify these ants, but going just on size and gaster shape alone is risky. They look very small. Were they especially small (for ants)? It could be Monomorium sp. but they could also be Paratrechina longicornis which is invasive, but largely naturalized.

The social carrying makes me think it's Paratrechina longicornis (aka "crazy ants" though that common name is no good it's used for too many sp.)

@markproxy

It looks great! Are they sped up?

@futurebird No, that's actual speed.

@futurebird Your comment about social carrying makes me think the ants so efficiently moving the fallen filament of a lily in this music video I made for a friend are also Paratrechina longicornis. I took the footage in a different house, also in Mérida.