Camponotus suffusus

Golden-tailed sugar ant at Hackett, ACT

Request use of media

Identification history

Camponotus suffusus	5 Oct 2018	JonLewis
Camponotus suffusus	5 Oct 2018	MichaelMulvaney
Dolichoderus scabridus	2 May 2018	jb2602

Identify this sighting

Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.

5 comments

KimPullen wrote:

4 May 2018

There are 2 species here. Images 1 and 2 are a Camponotus, probably C. suffusus. Images 3-5 look like the 'meat ant', Iridomyrmex purpureus.

MichaelMulvaney wrote:

6 Oct 2018

Image of different ant removed

silverseastarsong wrote:

18 Dec 2018

This looks like Camponotus aeneopilosus to me. Note the black legs. I may be wrong but I think leg colour is consistent in these two species.

JonLewis wrote:

18 Dec 2018

Hi Silversea, good comment about the leg colour. Sometimes the legs of Camponotus suffusus are distinctly red, while other times quite dark (though still reddish under magnification). In these photos, although the leg colour is quite dark, you can tell it is suffusus because of the head and body shape, and the fuzzy grey areas on the body, which are caused by the ant being covered by quite dense hairs. Cheers, Jon

silverseastarsong wrote:

19 Dec 2018

Thanks Jon for iterating the more technical reasons for the ID. I could not tell that there were differences in these traits from the genus key. As with most regions the dark Camponotus tend to be more complex than they seem.

Please Login or Register to comment.

Location information

Sighting information

16 - 100 Abundance
2 May 2018 03:47 PM Recorded on
jb2602 Recorded by
Collections
Insects Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) jb2602

Species information

Camponotus suffusus Scientific name
Golden-tailed sugar ant Common name
Not Sensitive
Local native
Non-invasive or negligible
Up to 899.01m Recorded at altitude
225 images trained Machine learning
External link More information