Ant nest beetle can produce explosive secretions, giving them the other name of flanged bombardier beetles although they are not particularly close relatives of the typical bombardier beetles (Brachininae). Very little is known about the immature stages of ant nest beetles. Most appear to live in ant nests in their early stages of life. Although many are facultative or obligate myrmecophiles, most do not appear like ants (i.e. myrmecomorphic) and unlike in the case of myrmecophilous larval Lycaenidae, there appears to be no benefit gained by the ants in this association. Many species follow the trails of worker ants of specific species. Glandular
Saharan silver ant Saharan silver ant The Saharan silver ant (Cataglyphis bombycina) is a type of ant that lives in the Sahara Desert. Largely due to the extreme high temperatures of their habitat, but also due to the threat of predators, the ants are active outside their nest for only about ten minutes per day. The twin pressures of predation and temperature restrict their above-ground activity to within a narrow temperature band between that at which predatory lizards cease activity and the ants' own upper threshold. The ants often traverse midday temperatures around to scavenge corpses of heat-stricken animals. To cope with such