Cephalotes maculatus

Cephalotes maculatus is a species of arboreal ant of the genus Cephalotes, characterized by an odd shaped head and the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they're on. Giving their name also as gliding ants.^[1][2] The species is native across most of the South and Central America, from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas in the north, to the Argentinian province of Tucumán in the south, making it one of the species with the largest native area in the genus Cephalotes^[3] Their larger and flatter legs, a trait common with other members of the genus Cephalotes, gives them their gliding abilities.^[4]

Cephalotes maculatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Genus:	Cephalotes
Species:	C. maculatus
Binomial name
Cephalotes maculatus (Smith, 1876)

The species was first given a description and a classification in 1876 by British entomologist Frederick Smith.