Picture 1 shows the just-emerged G. cruciatus teneral adult at 12:04 pm.
Picture 2- 12:41 pm. the wings have mostly unfolded.
Picture 3. side view at 12:41.
Picture 4: Color has gotten a good start at 4:33 pm the same day. Now we can see the color pattern almost totally darkened as for the usual G. cruciatus adult!

Sorting through some old samples, this one has me stumped. I'm pretty sure it's a Pheidole, but it's so textured, and those propodeal spines! I can't find anything like it.... What am I missing here???

Pogonomyrmex magnacanthus. Unofficial common name: ‘the big-eyed harvester’.
Some workers were tentatively peering out of the nest entrance, while a few others foraged singly. Workers were ‘shy’ and non-aggressive. Nest was approximately 3 inches in diameter and consisted of a barely visible, eroded patch of fine sand with a single entrance - located in loose, sandy soil.

Sunny
Air Temp: 22°C / 71°F
Elevation: 138 m / 454 ft
DLQ LOC: A19121

This is something I have not photographed before. Nest underground with two exit holes found under a rock. Edge between garden and fynbos. They meander rather than move aggressively. Size around 2.5mm with tiny eye. Prominent post petiole had me thinking Cardiocondyla but the shape is very different from the Cardiocondyla I have seen before and the propodeum has no teeth. One for Peter.

Lepisiota capenis trading in ant parts! L capensis have taken over my back garden which was previously ruled by Argentines. Whether these images represent part of a major cleaning up operation or the spoils of war I am unsure:)