Cooperative-foraging
Guides
Novomessor
Desert Long-legged Ants
Novomessor is a genus of desert-dwelling ants comprising three species. The genus was described by Carlo Emery in 1915, treated as a synonym of Aphaenogaster for decades, and reinstated as valid in 2015 based on phylogenetic evidence. Species inhabit arid regions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where they function as important granivores and exhibit sophisticated foraging behaviors including cooperative prey retrieval and multimodal navigation.
Novomessor albisetosus
desert harvester ant
Novomessor albisetosus, commonly known as the desert harvester ant, is a medium-sized ant species native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. First described by Gustav Mayr in 1886 as Aphaenogaster albisetosa, it was transferred to the revived genus Novomessor in 2015 following phylogenetic evidence of its distinctness from Aphaenogaster. Workers measure 6–8.5 mm and display ferruginous body coloration with distinctive morphological features including a shorter head and subparallel eyes compared to congeners. The species exhibits age-related task allocation among workers and cooperative foraging behavior, with colonies nesting underground or beneath stones in arid and semi-arid habitats.
Pheidole vistana
Vista Big-headed Ant
Pheidole vistana is a species of big-headed ant native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. The species is named after its type locality of Vista, California. It is primarily nocturnal and has been observed to forage rarely on overcast days. Workers cooperate to transport insect prey into nests, and colonies construct distinctive large rings of sand around nest entrances.
Philoponella
Philoponella is a genus of uloborid spiders characterized by the absence of venom glands, a trait shared by all members of family Uloboridae. These spiders are obligate web-dwellers that capture prey using silk rather than venom. The genus exhibits notable behavioral diversity, including both solitary and social species, with some demonstrating cooperative prey capture. Philoponella species are primarily pantropical in distribution.