Subfamily Myrmicinae - Myrmicine ants
Myrmicinae is the largest ants subfamily in Australia. Myrmicines range greatly in size, with the smallest about 1 mm long and the largest up to 10 mm.
For the Myrmicines ants the mesosoma is attached to the gaster by two distinct segments. There is the sting at the tip of their gaster.
- Muscleman Tree-ant
- Podomyrma gratiosa, body length 10mm
- The ants are brown in colour with black abdomen. Their nest is in a live tree trunk. We recorded how those ants caught a bug. Details please click on here.
- Valentine Ant
- Crematogaster laeviceps, body length 5mm
- Those ants have the heart-shaped gaster so their name Valentine Ants. In the pictures above, those ants are attending the aphids for the honeydew. The aphids suck the plant juice. Within the juice, there are water and sugar more than the aphids' need. They are excreted as honeydew.
- Pennant Ant
- Tetramorium sp., body length 5mm
- We sometimes found these ants in our backyards.
- Reference and Link:
- 1. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus & Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p288.
- 2. Podomyrma - myrmecos.net, 2005.
- 3.Tetramorium - myrmecos.net, 2005.
- 2.Crematogaster - myrmecos.net, 2005.
