Ensign Scales nymph, or "crawler" (Ortheziidae: genus Orthezia) from Iowa.
An Eastern Black Carpenter Ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus, tends to a colony of aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) from Iowa. She is tapping the aphids with her antennae to trigger the secretion of honeydew, a sweet liquid that ants readily exploit as an energy source.
