Attack mode ON!!!

ID: Weaver ant

While photographing a rarely sighted Brettus, perched on the bamboo shoots, the neighboring branch of the same bamboo growth had the house of the weaver ants. Though initially could spot 4-5 of them working on building a new nest, within a moment of framing, could spot several of them turning out of the WIP nest, almost completely engulfing the leaf and few already on the attack stance, intimidating to sho-off the intruder, no matter what size that intruder is. Here is one of them aggressively posing with its mandibles wide open, ready to bite onto anything that approaches too close to the new nest. Had to be extra cautious not to accidentally getting too close to it, for the mutual benefit, for me to avoid the nasty bite, for them to avoid causing any further damage.

EXIF:
Canon 80D
Canon 100mm macro
F/10
Shutterspeed 1/160
ISO 500
Handheld, external flash fired

Location: Nagla trail

Interesting. Looks like you were too close for comfort. While shooting macro we often misjudge the minimum focusing distance, and move close as invariably macro subjects are tiny and we want the subject to appear big in the screen. I would not prefer to get bitten by these fellows. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Nice defensive behaviour captured. Protecting the nest would be thier duty. Good details on the head area. Thanks for sharing.