Pallid Twig Ant

An interesting little ant about 7 mm long, walking alone on a cement railing. It looks like a little string of moving brown beads…. Notice the large oblong eyes, double petiole and pilose 4th abdominal segment. This species likes to make small nests in the stalks of grasses and various other plants. It sometimes uses small twigs. It has a distribution from the southern United States south through Panama and is native to Mexico. Adults feed on nectar and find insects as food for their larvae. This is the same genus of ants which are famous for the Ant-Plant association between Swollen Thorn Acacias and species of Pseudomyrmex (see https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/1989938853/fullscreen). Family Formicidae, Subfamily Pseudomyrmecinae.