Fascinating and beautiful images. The blue-black one is my fave. Did not realise until now that their antennae came from the middle of their faces, but that makes sense. Would say scents but my pun quota is in the red and besides, that doesn’t do it justice —

“It is obvious that the antennae are more than chemosensory or smelling structures and this is well documented in many insects. Antennae may have sensory receptors for mechanical force, tactile stimuli, chemo-sensation, smell/taste, humidity, and air flow. This multiplicity of perception is a challenge to understand and to place in the context of behavior: what information does an ant get and how does she respond?

Also, the elbow shape of ant antennae make the antennae particularly mobile, rather like our arms…That they have an antenna on each side of the head gives a kind of stereo view of the world — whatever sense they are using. I find this rather fascinating to think about: the stereo world of the ants along all these perceptual lines.”

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