iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Benjamin Palm @haplodiploid.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Yesterday I finally found an ant I’ve been looking for for many years: Polyrhachis muelleri, the only ant species known to (always) have green larvae! Its cocoons are so thin that even the pupae appear green until sclerotization :) Northern Bali, Indonesia 🇮🇩

Multiple black Polyrhachis muelleri workers guarding pupae on the underside of a leaf. The translucent cocoons to the left are younger, and the green pupae show through. The pupae to the right are older, and the workers within are already black and sclerotized.

A green ant larva lying on a silk web on the underside of a leaf.

A single Polyrhachis muelleri worker walking to the left side of the image on top of a silk web.

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Benjamin Palm @haplodiploid.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

More details in this awesome paper by Wolfgang Dorow and colleagues: doi.org/10.1080/0394...

doi.org

The natural history of Polyrhachis (Myrmhopla) muelleri Forel 1893 (Formicidae Formicinae), a weaver ant with mimetic larvae and an unusual nesting behaviour

Polyrhachis muelleri has an unusual nesting behaviour: while the other leaf-nesting species of Polyrhachis hide their nests by weaving together leaves or by incorporating detritus into the silk w...

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Benjamin Palm @haplodiploid.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Morphologically, they look a bit like small P. abdominalis, but even more spider-like. Oh, and they have ridiculously long maxillary palps - sometimes as long as the thorax! This worker has hers hanging over her pronotal “shoulder.”

A black Polyrhachis muelleri worker walking towards the right of the image on a green leaf, showing its very long legs, antennae, and the right maxillary palp hanging beside the pronotum.

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Benjamin Palm @haplodiploid.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Their nests are quite spectacular imo, even by Polyrhachis standards. The small colonies build them on the underside of a single leaf, covering it with an oval silk web. But unlike most other Polyrhachis, they don’t cover the web with debris and it is left completely bare. Good camouflage!

Silk nest of Polyrhachis muelleri ants attached to the underside of a large green leaf.

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