''Cephalotes varians'' is a species of

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

of the genus ''

Cephalotes ''Cephalotes'' is a genus of tree-dwelling ant species from the Americas, commonly known as turtle ants. All appear to be gliding ants, with the ability to "parachute" and steer their fall so as to land back on the tree trunk rather than fall t ...

'' with the common name turtle ant. Characterized by an odd, shaped head that allows them to block the nest entrance holes and prevents enemies from gaining access to their nest, their ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they are on also makes them one of several species known as

gliding ant Gliding ants are arboreal ants of several different genera that are able to control the direction of their descent when falling from a tree. Living in the rainforest canopy like many other gliders, gliding ants use their gliding to return to the ...

s. When disturbed, they tuck their antennae and legs beneath flanges on their head and body, crouch down, and freeze, thus passively resisting attacks. In 2016, ''C. varians'' was included on a list of

adventive An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

ants established in North America.

References

varians Insects described in 1876 {{Cephalotes-stub