australian honey pot ant - by Ryan Blakeley - Ryan's Corner
There is a desert-dwelling ant in Australia that lives off the nectar of mulga trees 1. Animals which rely on flower nectar in regions that get extremely cold or dry must have some means of storage for when times are lean.
The Australian honey pot ant has specialized workers called repletes which function as living larders. They become fully engorged with nectar, to the size of a grape, and hang from the roof. These specialized honey pots are almost totally inactive so they consume little honey to sustain their energy.
The small dark spots on their inflated honey sacs are the hard plates that protect the body of a normal ant. The membrane between those plates is what stretches.
When there is little food to be found above ground workers visit the honey pots. They stimulate the repletes to regurgitate food. Other workers groom and clean the larders. During times of plenty workers bring nectar down and feed it to the repletes. 23
Their nests are about 4 feet below the surface of the ground. Indigenous Australians would dig them up and eat them. Chef Renee Redzepi has served them recently:
