Subject: Winged insect, big, drowsy and erratic behavior.
Geographic location of the bug: Algiers’ countryside, Algeria. (North Africa)
Date: 06/16/2019
Time: 11:57 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Hello sir/madam bugman.
Tonight is a windy night and I left the window open yet the light was off. After I closed the window and turned the light on, I noticed something moving on the floor, and it was the insect of which I am joining pictures to this letter. Its movement were “goofy” and when I put it on a sheet of paper I noticed that its legs did not stick well to paper, I mean, it fell off as the angle or the slope of the sheet gets stiffer. And also,it tends to roll its abdomen a lot.
I mean no offense to you or to that creature, but I don’t like it. I swear though, I didn’t kill it, I released it to the outside.
Thanks in advance.
Take care.
I love you.
How you want your letter signed: Ahmed B. Otsmane
Dear Ahmed,
Luckily, we have now identified male Driver Ants or Sausage Flies enough times that we only need to link to our own archives, but the first time we received an identification request for this very unusual insect, we were quite puzzled ourselves. According to Alex Wild on his Diversity of Insects website: “Dorylus is an African and Asian genus of nomadic predatory ants. The surface-foraging species conduct spectacular raids and are often referred to as driver or safari ants.” Because of your catch and release actions, we are tagging this posting with the Bug Humanitarian Award.