Hi SWhishart, nice photos again. The black bands on the tail (gaster) are visible because it is swollen by the ant having had a large meal, probably of honeydew. The gaster is made up of several sections which can be expanded to allow the ant to consume a lot and take the excess back to the colony, where it passes it on to the other ants. This movement of food from ant to ant is called trophallaxis. Take a look at the Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophallaxis Cheers, Jon