Are you in need of rescue? Do you have a castle that needs defending? Need someone who can withstand attack after attack and still walk away? We may have the solution for you! Introducing our knights in shining armor: Cephalotes varians. Their common nickname is the “Turtle Ant” because not only do they tuck their legs and antenna in when being attacked, they have extremely durable armor, similar to how a turtle has a tough shell exterior! Though these champions are small, they are remarkably tough. This semester, my partner, Phoebe Harrison, and I aim to explore more about how our brave knights’ armor is so tough!
We first noticed how durable Turtle Ants are in a previous experiment for Marissa Douglas’ thesis, where we studied how aggressive Pseudomyrmex gracilis (Twig Ants) are towards Turtle Ants. We observed and scored interactions between Twig Ants and Turtle Ants. During this data collection, we noticed that despite prolonged biting and flinging, Twig Ant attacks had little effect on the Turtle Ants. This is especially impressive when taking into consideration just how much bigger Twig Ants are compared to Turtle Ants: about 2 to 2.5 times the size of Turtle Ants. Twig Ants have strong, large mandibles that are made to grip, carry and clamp onto food and other ants. Additionally, Twig Ants have a powerful, painful sting which we have observed them using many times on the Turtle Ants. Further reading on Twig Ant mandibles can be found in Phoebe Harrison’s blog post: Never Gonna Give You Up: Twig Ant Mandibles.
Video 1: A clip from Marissa’s thesis experiments of a Twig Ant chasing, biting and then carrying a Turtle Ant around a petri dish.
To better understand how Turtle Ant armor so effectively protects them from their formidable foes, we want to observe them in battle and then examine their armor for evidence of damage. The end goal is to get a microscopic view of any damage done to the Twig Ants. In order to damage our courageous knights’ armor, we are recording more interactions between the Twig and Turtle Ants. Then we will ship the damaged Turtle Ant specimens to be photographed under a very close up lens.
In the beginning of the semester, we considered many different setups to video these intense battles, so that we can record where and how much damage has been done to each ant’s body. We ended up using our lab’s Leica dissection microscope and LAS EZ software (a Windows-based software which connects to, controls and documents Leica microscopes) to capture the interactions between the Twig and Turtle Ants. To contain the fierce duel between our knight and her foe (and to get a close enough video of the ant abdomens in order to tell where they have been bitten), we had to find the correctly sized arena. At first we tried to use petri dishes, however, even the smallest petri dish was not small enough for the entire dish to be captured by the camera of our dissection microscope. Instead, we used a 12-well cell culture plate, with each well having a 2cm diameter and fitting within our video feed. We coated the sides of all the wells in Fluon using a sponge brush that was trimmed to be small enough. Fluon is a liquid that dries to create a slippery surface that makes it hard for insects to climb up the sides of the container. Additionally we placed a glass slide over top of the wells because the Twig Ants are sometimes able to climb walls despite the Fluon.
Picture 1: Experiment setup with dissection microscope, glass slide, and Fluoned petri dishes.
Picture 2: Screenshot of LAS EZ software connected to the dissection microscope videoing Twig and Turtle Ant fight. Twig Ant on left, Turtle Ant on right.
So far, my partner and I have run and recorded 9 interaction videos between the Twig and Turtle Ants, each about 30 minutes long. Through live observation of these battles, we’ve seen that for 6 of the 9 videos, the Twig and Turtle Ants are almost constantly locked together, with the Twig Ant biting, stinging and throwing the Turtle Ant. At some points, the Turtle Ants grab hold of the Twig Ants and bite one of their legs with their smaller mandibles. Our goal is to record at least 10 total videos so that we have at least 10 Turtle Ants to study. After each intense battle, our fearsome warriors (both the Twig and Turtle Ants) are placed in ethanol in order to preserve their armor and any damage done to it.
Our next steps are to watch the videos and record data on where each Turtle Ant got bitten or stung and how many times. This data will be used to determine where on each specimen we should look for damage and then we will ship each specimen out to our collaborator to take high-magnification images. These images will be magnified enough for us to determine whether we can see any evidence of observed attacks by the Twig Ants on the Turtle Ants’ bodies. Can we match a bite or a sting by the Twig Ant on a Turtle Ant’s left abdomen to a punctures, tears or scratches in the Turtle Ant’s armor in the same spot? Do different kinds of attacks or targeting different places on the turtle ant body seem more effective at causing damage? Answering these questions and more is crucial to understanding how Turtle Ants interact when faced with competitive or invasive colonies in the wild. Just like any knight in shining armor, Turtle Ants must carry out quests for their liege (bring back food for their queen and colony) and defend their kingdom if it is under siege (protect their nests from any threats). These duties put them into contact with aggressive foes, such as the Twig Ants, and understanding their ability to recover from being flung around by enemy ants twice their size or being stung repeatedly gives us a better idea of how Turtle Ant colonies take over abandoned nests, defend against invaders and survive in competitive ecosystems.
Further Reading:
Bell, Brian. “What makes an insect indestructible?”, University of California, University of California Irvine, 22 Oct. 2020,
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/what-makes-insect-indestructible
“LAS EZ Imaging software for Windows OS for "EZ" documentation and annotation”, Leica Microsystems, 3 Nov. 2025,
https://www.leica-microsystems.com/products/microscope-software/p/leica-las-ez/
Lexie Stinson. “Wrestling Ants: How We Score Insect Aggression Like WWE Moves”, HMC Bee Lab, Harvey Mudd College, 12 May 2025,
https://hmcbee.blogspot.com/2025/05/wrestling-ants-how-we-score-insect.html
Phoebe Harrison. “Never Gonna Give You Up: Twig Ant Mandibles”, HMC Bee Lab, Harvey Mudd College, 18 Oct. 2025,
https://hmcbee.blogspot.com/2025/10/never-gonna-give-you-up-twig-ant.html
Media Credits:
[1] Video by Hanna Bibbler Parker and Chloé Andrieux-Amadei
[2] Photo by Phoebe Harrison
[3] Photo by Lexie Stinson
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