Workers are roughly 8–9 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Neoponera verenae
An ant that relocates its colony one nestmate at a time, guiding each follower by touch and scent.
About this species
Neoponera verenae(Forel, 1922)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Neoponera verenae is a predatory Neotropical ant nesting in rotten wood, twigs and beneath stones. Colonies are small, often contain several fertile queens and forage without mass recruitment to food.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Formicidae · Ponerinae · Neoponera
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Mexico through Central America into much of tropical South AmericaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Mexico through Central America into much of tropical South America
Rainforest, gallery forest, savannah, plantations and even open urban habitats.
Workers forage singly on the ground and vegetation.
Live insects, scavenged arthropods and liquid foods carried as droplets between the mandibles.
Usually fewer than 100 workers; several fertile queens may coexist.
What makes this species remarkable?
During a move, a leader recruits exactly one nestmate in a tandem run; the follower maintains antennal contact while a pygidial-gland pheromone helps hold the pair together.
Workers do not lay a trail to food. Each hunter navigates visually and returns alone, even after overpowering live caterpillars or other prey.
Instead of swallowing liquid immediately, a forager can carry a visible droplet clamped between its mandibles and deliver it intact to the nest.