Asian Weaver Ants and their Nest

Description:

Weaver ants uses their larvae to produce silk in order to stitch the leaves of the tree together to form a nest. A single colony can only have one queen and can have several nests in a tree, a colony can even have nests spread out to different trees. The leaves the ants stitched together to make a nest later dies out or gets damaged so they have to make new nests continuously. Also the ants and the host plant have a mutualistic relationship as the plant provides the ants with shelter, the ants in return protect the plant from other insects and pests.

Habitat:

This species of arboreal ant are found in tropical Asia and Australia. This colony I photographed was making their nest on a banyan tree.

Notes:

Although these ants don't have stingers, their bite is quite painful and they spray formic acid which is irritating and smells really weird.