Ghost ant feast.

Ghost ant (Tapinoma melanocephalum) workers mostly need carbohydrates as a source of energy and they love to consume honeydew excreted by mealybugs and aphids. In an artificial nest, a colony can be almost exclusively fed with maple syrup and sucrose solution droplets. Nevertheless, a certain amount of protein is needed since larvae and reproductive adults rely heavily on proteins for growth and egg production respectively. Our big ghost ant colony is avidly feeding on this piece of king mealworm (Zophobas morio) since the queens just produced a large number of eggs and tens of larvae are already developing.