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🐝 Ants, Bees & Wasps

Disc-Headed Turtle Ant

Cephalotes varians

About

A small arboreal turtle ant in which soldiers have perfectly circular, flat heads that serve as living nest entrance plugs. Workers are dark brown with lateral body flanges. They nest in abandoned beetle galleries in living trees.

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Did You Know?

Their soldier heads evolved to exactly match the diameter of beetle bore holes, creating a perfect manhole-cover defense system.