Last week I went into my usual rainforest spot and came across a very nice finding, a queen of the pretty uncommon Acanthoponera genus, you can find the full story on the Meet your Neighbours page.
Acanthoponera mucronata queen
Canon XSi, ISO400 | f/11 | 1/200 @28mm on a reversed Soligor 28-35mm
One flash on camera and one held at the left. Stack of 3 shots.
Acanthoponera mucronata queen
Canon XSi, ISO800 | f/18 | 1/200 @45mm on 18-55mm 5.6 IS +22 diopter (Raynox msn-202)
Despite the Acanthoponera being a first timer for me, looking through my archive I see in the past I had come across at least one ant of this same subfamily in the area, another predator, a worker of Heteroponera flava, I remember this one was seen during the day (as well as another one in a different region) on a rotten log on the ground, as opposed to the nocturnal sighting of the Acanthoponera.
Heteroponera flava
Canon S5 IS ISO200 | f/8 |1/125 @72mm (430mm eq.) +8 diopter (Raynox DCR250)
As a downside, my main flash began to die the night I found that queen, after four years of use surviving even a high fall in a cave, it’s time to look for a new one.