Wild World of Bugs (Part 1)
The Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium of Tucson, AZ commissioned a diorama of a Desert Leafcutter Ant nest for the Wild World of Bugs exhibit on insects (running 2021 to present). This ant species, Acromyrmex versicolor, brings plant matter into their multi-chambered nest, where the plant matter feeds a fungus that the ant colony eats. These fungal rooms double as nurseries, as the newly-hatched larvae also feed on these fungal “stalactites.”
This large diorama was designed across five main layers, each printed on a separate panel and set off from the panel beneath. The chamber image is spatially set into the image of the surrounding soil, both of which sit beneath the tunnel entrance image. Behind these layers sits the desert monsoon setting, while the blue magnification bubbles sit at the forefront of the diorama.
Accompanying the diorama is a panel that explains the lifecycle of a Desert Leafcutter Ant colony with respect to the queen(s), as described below.
Graphite and digital color. 80x90”. 2021.
Detail of Sonoran desert setting.
Detail of a fungus chamber, before the small ants were drawn-in.
Detail of the magnification bubbles. The queen is at the bottom-right.
Diorama in the exhibit hall, with the lifecycle infographic to the left.
Illustrations from the lifecycle panel: (1) A worker gives a larva extra nutrition so that she grows up into a new queen. (2) A male drone and a young queen take flight, among thousands of other pairs during a monsoon-seanon swarm. (3) A drone and queen will mate after pairing in mid-air and falling to the ground. (4) A newly-fertilized queen has ripped off her spent wings and has begun excavating the start of a new nest. (5) The queen plants a piece of fungus she has carried from the fungal chamber where she grew up, much like using a sourdough starter when baking bread. This will grow into a new fungus garden for her colony. (6) The queen needs a helping hand, so she begins laying eggs.