Update

Hi everyone! The experiment is going well! The tropical rain forest was dry than expected for the season and the first days the ants were difficult to find, but I made it! The trials with the equipment are going well so far now. The ants don't resist too much the dry air (an average of 7 hours so far), however, this are still preliminary results because I haven't finished the trials. I could have the chance to sample the ants in a dry forest too, so I am collecting them at north of Costa Rica now, to have more data and compare. Will keep you updated of the advance! So far, this nice lay says hi!

 

Eciton lucanoides soldier under the stereoscope. The two front dots near to the antena are not the eyes. One of the eyes can been seen on top of the left side of the soldier head (are very tiny).