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Myrmecia pilosula
These ants are one of the most fearless and aggressive known in Australia but I have never seen them do this before. One suddenly jumped from a flower and latched onto the head of a very quick, common hoverfly. As they landed on another branch another ant grabbed a leg and, while the fly was still struggling furiously they dragged it right down to the ant nest. These ants have a very nasty sting which can last for days, they are afraid of nothing and they can jump huge distances. About 15mm long.
On ti-tree shrubs in a local national park.
family: FORMICIDAE
subfamily: Myrmeciinae
https://sites.google.com/site/insectsoft...
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:b...
The hoverfly is Ischiodon scutellaris.
Spotted on Oct 28, 2014
Submitted on Oct 28, 2014
4 Comments
Oh...my...that is unbelievably scary! Sure am glad it wasn't me they latched onto! Incredible spotting. Thank you for sharing Mark :)
Yes I fear these much more than the bull-ants even though they are slightly smaller.
Count myself lucky they don't get any bigger.
Impressive!