Ant Visions: Formicinae

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Camponotus consobrinus

2006-12-19T22:04:00.000-08:00

Camponotus consobrinus
Classification
Tribe: Camponotini
Subfamily: Formicinae
Family: Formicidae
Order: Hymenoptera
Common name: Banded Sugar Ant

These are individually foraging ants. In summer, they begin foraging in the late evening and continue foraging till the early hours of the morning. On cooler days I have seen them foraging even in late afternoons, thus their foraging patterns could be related to the ground temperature. Similar to most species of Camponotus, these ants too construct terrestrial nests. Some nests have a single nest entrance while others have multiple entrances. Distinct polymorphism, with atleast four distinct morphs visible during foraging period. Recruitment is sparse and when carried out it is by means of tandem running. Nuptial flight: recorded in the month of December in Canberra. Pictures of C. consobrinus males are here.

Collected:

Urban regions of Sydney and Canberra: 2003 - 2006

Median worker of the ant Camponotus consobrinus

Large mandibles of the major worker C. consobrinus

Winged female about to fly away from the nest while the nest is guarded by workers

Winged female of C. consobrinus looks out of the nest deciding if it is time to fly

Oecophylla smaragdina (orange gaster)

2006-04-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

Oecophylla smaragdina (from India)

Though I have already written about Oecophylla smaragdina ants, I thought these ants deserve another note here because of the geographical variation they exhibit. I took some of these pictures during my recent trip to South India. The last picture is one from my old archives, shot on a SLR Nikon FM 10; Sigma 105 mm.

Workers of Weaver ants, hold each other to form chains and pull leaves together to aid in nest building.

Workers of Oecophylla clearing up debris from their nest

Oecophylla female workers trying to restrain the males from flying out of their nest

Queen of the the ant Oecophylla smaragdina. (photographed by my colleague Karthikeyan)

Queen of the the ant Oecophylla smaragdina.

Collected:

Lalbagh, Bangalore, Karnataka, India (March 2006)

Camponotus sericeus

2006-04-09T11:37:00.000-07:00

Camponotus sericeus
Classification
Tribe: Camponotini
Subfamily: Formicinae
Family: Formicidae
Order: Hymenoptera
Common name: Common Golden Ant

Commonly called as Golden ant due to their golden pubescence on the gaster. Interestingly the density of hairs varies in this species between nests, thus some appear extremely golden, while some h

Camponotus compressus

2006-04-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

Camponotus compressusClassification

Tribe: Camponotini
Subfamily: Formicinae
Family: Formicidae
Order: Hymenoptera
Common name: Black Common Ant

The most common black ant found in India, with their distribution spread till Middle East Asia and Russia. These ants establish monodomous terrestrial nests. They are polymorphic, often seeing foraging solitarily and never establishing trails. Their nest entrances are often small holes (1-3 cm diameter), at the junction of roots that are conspicuous on the ground. Nests are also constructed at the base of several trees. They do not have specialized feeding habits and are often seeing feeding on nectar of plants. They also tend to Homopterans such as aphids, coccids and mealybugs.

Collected:

Polyrhachis hookeri

2006-03-10T19:20:00.000-08:00

Polyrhachis hookeri
Classification
Tribe: Camponotini
Subfamily: Formicinae
Family: Formicidae
Order: Hymenoptera
Common name: Golden Spined Metallic ant

A marvellous ant from the northern part of Sydney. Measuring just around 7 mm in length, this ant establishes nests at the base of shrubs. In this Rhytidoponera metallica rich location, this ant fooled me initially into believing it was one of them, until I got reasonably close. Nests were relatively close to one another, anywhere between 60-400 cm. I witnessed some ant battles also. Interestingly all fights were one-on-one and there was no mobbing of one intruder by several ants at all.

Distinct features
divergent propodeal spines; spines on the petiole curved around the gaster; no median spines between them; distinct metallic iridescence all over the body.

Paratrechina longicornis

2005-10-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

Paratrechina longicornis

Classification
Tribe: Plagiolepidini
Subfamily: Formicinae
Family: Formicidae
Order: Hymenoptera
Common name: Crazy Black ant

These ants are characterised by their scurrying feet and the long antennae (scape extends well over the head) which gives them their species name, longicornis. They have gained a worldwide status of being a pest species. They are invasive to India. Trade and commerce has played a part in distributing these ants world all over.

Their presence is usually related to disturbance in habitats and hence these ants are distinctly absent from pristine rain forests. On the other hand they are the most conspicuous ants in urban Bangalore. Often seen raiding into kitchens and feeding on sugary products these ants are generalistic in their feeding habits. Their nesting sites are also not very specialized. Nest sites can vary from being at the crevices of rocks, cracks in walls, cracks in pavements and also in soil at the base of grasses.

Collected:
Around buildings, Bangalore, Karnataka, India (March, 2006).

Oecophylla smaragdina

2005-10-18T06:49:00.000-07:00

Oecophylla smaragdina

Classification
Tribe: Oecophyllini
Subfamily: Formicinae

Family: Formicidae
Order: Hymenoptera
Common name: Weaver Ant

A true arboreal ant, that inhabits and dominates the tropical rain forests in Australia, South East Asia and India, but absent from the New World.

They construct arboreal nests, nests often spanning over several trees. These ants, in the most rightful sense, are epitome of evolution sewing machines and do, exhibit high degree of altruism and cooperation. The larvae of these ants have evolved to function as miniaturenate their silk in the construction of their nests.

These ants have a remarkably sharp tarsal claw, that provides them with an admirable grip on leafy substrates and human skin (as we often find!). These ants often construct translucent shades of silk to house scale insects, a homopteran that produce honey dew for the ants. Their polydomous nest is controlled by one single queen, with several potential queens called 'callow' residing in these nests.

Collected:
Kakadu National Park, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. (March, 2005).

Melophorus bagoti

2005-06-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

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].