Camponotus nigriceps

Black-headed sugar ant at Queanbeyan West, NSW

Camponotus nigriceps at Queanbeyan West, NSW - 6 Apr 2020
Camponotus nigriceps at Queanbeyan West, NSW - 6 Apr 2020
Request use of media

Identification history

Camponotus nigriceps 10 Apr 2020 JonLewis
Camponotus nigriceps 10 Apr 2020 JonLewis
Camponotus sp. (genus) 10 Apr 2020 JonLewis
Camponotus sp. (genus) 8 Apr 2020 Speedsta

Identify this sighting


Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.

3 comments

Speedsta wrote:
   14 Apr 2020
Why does this one have a larger head and in other colonies they are all small?
JonLewis wrote:
   14 Apr 2020
Hi Speedsta, some groups of ants have only one size of worker, but others can have two or more sizes. Camponotus ants are dimorphic, having mainly normal sized workers (the smaller ones, called minors) and a smaller number of much larger and more strongly built workers, known as majors. The majors do heavy work and also act as guard ants. The head is very large because it has very large muscles to power the large jaws. Cheers, Jon
Speedsta wrote:
   15 Apr 2020
That was brilliant thank you Jon.

Please Login or Register to comment.

Nearby sightings

Page 1 of 1 - image sightings only

Location information

Sighting information

  • 101 - 1,000 Abundance
  • 6 Apr 2020 05:36 PM Recorded on
  • Speedsta Recorded by

Additional information

  • 12mm to 25mm Animal size

Species information

Record quality

  • Images or audio
  • More than one media file
  • Confirmed by an expert moderator
  • Nearby sighting(s) of same species
  • GPS evidence of location
  • Description
  • Additional attributes
2,152,973 sightings of 19,940 species in 6,475 locations from 11,410 contributors
CCA 3.0 | privacy
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.