A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Oecophylla smaragdina
Body length Approx.18mm. Green Tree Ants have a green abdomen and yellow-green thorax. They are also known as Weaver Ants as they weave leaves together to form their nest. They are aggressive ants and will inflict a painful bite and squirt formic acid from the tip of their abdomen - they do not sting, though.
Forest
Food: They forage on vegetation as well as the ground, often moving in large numbers forming distinct trails. They feed on small animals they come across often taking prey much larger than themselves. They also feed on the sugary secretions from aphids, scale insects, and the caterpillars of some butterfly species, protecting these insects from predators and parasites. Breeding: Green Tree Ants build nests by stitching living tree and shrub leaves together with silk produced by special glands in the larvae. The adult ants do not produce silk. Workers cooperate forming chains to pull the leaves together in position. Other ants bring larvae and gently squeeze them to stimulate silk production. The silk is used to bind the leaves together into the nest. The nest contains several or dozens of leaves providing a well camouflaged shelter. The nest expands as the colony grows and groups of ants leave to form nearby satellite colonies. Most colonies have more than one queen.
Spotted on Jan 9, 2013
Submitted on Jan 9, 2013
6 Comments
Thanks Yuko & AdamBT
Hmmm, same as here. My chooks had a great feed for a few days on these :)
Leanne, I found a dozen or more of these
I wonder were there lots of these MacC? They were around in big numbers here recently, after days & days of rain. Thanks for helping me ID mine too!
Beautiful macro!
Cool macro :)