Melophorus bagoti

Melophorus bagoti

Classification
Tribe: Melophorinii
Subfamily: Formicinae
Family: Formicidae
Order: Hymenoptera
Common name: ituny ituny or Racehorse Ant

The only ants that scurry around during the day (summer only) on the semiarid desert floor of Central Australia. These ants travel at over 27 cm/sec and begin foraging only when the ground temperature rises over 50°C, thus managing to avoid the vicious meat ants, Iridomyrmex. Their ability to endure high temperatures gives them the common name, Furnace ants. They are locally known by the Aboriginals as 'ituny ituny' which translates as 'sun sun'. These ants have a specialized morph, a replete, that stores food very similar to the specialized honeypot ants Camponotus inflatus and Myrmecocystus species. M. bagoti ants are solitary foragers and are primarily scavengers, living on insects roasted in the desert heat. I have also noted that they collect seeds of Acacia estrophiolata (may be for elaisomes) which is as far as I know the first reports of these ants feeding on seeds. They construct underground nests, around 7 m deep and 5 m wide.

Distinct J-shaped hairs below the head along with a slit like propodeal spiracle are distinct features of the genus Melophorus.

To evade competition they forage only during the summer season, i.e., Nov - Apr, and hibernate through the rest of the period. Single nest entrance (monodomus), single queen (monogyny) characterises the colony. Nuptial flight is during third or fourth week of December, following a rainy day.

Collected:
Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. [January 2004, January 2005, January 2006].