In Australia’s deserts, where worker bees collect nectar from the mulga tree’s blossoms, honeypot ants, Camponotus inflatus, makes its home. The ‘rotunds,’ unique workers whose duty it is to dangle upside down and consume, get it from the bees as they transport it underground.
The tiny, tubby insects are indeed given so much nectar that their abdomens grow to the size of a small grape, and the wall of the abdomen is stretched so thinly that the honey can be seen within.
These actual honeypot ants, Camponotus inflatus serve as a form of risk management. The rotunds rub the ants’ antennae to get them to regurgitate the honey when the ordinary workers run out of food. To maintain the health of the living larders, they also groom and clean the honeypots.
The rotunds, who make up around 50% of the colony, reside in cool, subterranean corridors. Indigenous Australians have been digging them up and eating them for thousands of years, and they are highly coveted. David Attenborough was shown drinking one in the 1990 documentary Trials Of Life.
Compared to the more well-known bee alternative, the honey is reported to be runnier and less sweet, but it is still packed with antioxidants. (sciencefocus)
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