These are images from my Messor barbarus nest. I collected the queen in Barcelona in 2003.

M. barbarus is a granivorous ant distributed around the Mediterranean sea, mainly in its western countries.

They harvest seeds and store them into the dryer chambers of their nests. In this case seeds came from bird mixture food.

M. barbarus doesn't consume the seeds content directly, but makes an external predigestion through the mechanical action of their mandibles and enzymes presents in their saliva, that hidrolize the polysacarides present in the seed. In their digestive tubes, only monosacarides are found.

The digested mass is named ant bread and through its elaboration several workers can be involved in groups. Finally, even the colour of the pulp changes into light white.