Indian/Jerdon's Jumping Ant

Description:

Anyone heard of jumping ants? The Indian species of jumping ant also known as jerdon's jumping ant is capable of jumping up to 10 cm in height. They are very active ants and usually prey on small insects. They hunt by jumping towards the prey that fly above them. They kill their prey with their long modified mandibles. The colony size of these ants is very small and there is no huge morphological difference between the worker ants and the queen. Also the worker ants can mate with the queen which is not common among ants. The prey being almost the same size it would have been a very interesting hunt!! Its not easy to photograph these active ants. It was very challenging to track in rough terrain. Phew!!