Posted Feb. 7, 2019
I have been photographing wasp, ant, termite, and bee nests in Guatemala for decades. During recent months we have been focused on finding and photographing all insect nests in Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo, Peten, Guaemala. This is a joint project with the park administrators IDAEH and CONAP.
Photo taken by a NIKON D810 Camera, lens Nikon AF-S Micro 60mm F2.8 G.
Settings: f/13, speed 1/250, ISO 20,000, by Nicholas Hellmuth.
Most of the nests we find are arboreal, including ant nests. But the nest pictured here is above the ground. I estimate that the mass of material in which the nest is located fell from the tree above. This is directly in front of the kitchen of the IDAEH portion of the park camp. It is coincidentally directly underneath an arboreal ant nest which has a tube sticking out for stingless bees that live inside the ant nest (the two insects do not bother each other whatsoever; we have found dual-occupation nests in many places in the park).
Most of the stingless bee species construct an entrance tunnel of about 1 cm in diameter and between 3 cm up to considerable lengths (sticking out of the tree cavity or sticking out from a crack in the ground). What was different about this entrance was its irregular shape and its wide diameter (estimated 4 to 5 cm; we did not want to disturb the busy bees by trying to measure it with a ruler). We estimate these are Trigona nigerrima; their local name is Cushusho.
The bees only attacked when they saw me in front of the nest (taking photos). When I photographed from behind a tree and photographing the side, they did not notice me. But the best photos would be with a macro lens and from the front! However they attack en masse, and burrow into your hair, down the neck and sleeves of your shirt, etc.
Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo, Peten, Guaemala is a great place to do research on bees, wasps, ants, termites, and thousands of other insects. We will be back at the park in a week, looking for more insect nests, waterbirds, aquatic orchids, palm trees, and interesting eco-systems to photograph. You can see more photos on our www.Maya-ethnobotany.org and www.digital-photography.org.
