These aren’t eggs…

January 27, 2010 by myrmecos

…they’re something far more interesting.

Ten points to the first person who identifies the orange balls. These were photographed inside a termite nest in southern Illinois last fall.

Posted in Nature | Tagged Insects, termites | 8 Comments

on January 27, 2010 at 10:14 am norwegica

How about fungi/fungal balls?
on January 27, 2010 at 10:14 am Scott

Egg-mimicking fungus…
on January 27, 2010 at 10:16 am myrmecos

Wow, you guys are fast!
on January 27, 2010 at 10:21 am Neil

3 vote for fungus. They look like the Fibularhizoctonia sclerotia reported by Matsuura et al. 2000.
on January 27, 2010 at 10:42 am Yannick Wurm

I believe the official term is “Termite Balls”
on January 27, 2010 at 4:55 pm Troy

I’ve seen those! See my photo here:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/658/bgimage
on January 28, 2010 at 7:02 am Roberta

Snail eggs?
on January 28, 2010 at 7:05 am Roberta

Okay, I missed the fungus answer. Hey, it’s early in the morning here.🙂

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