Camponotus nigriceps

Black-headed sugar ant at Queanbeyan West, NSW

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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

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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.

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Location information

Sighting information

  • 101 - 1,000 Abundance
  • 6 Apr 2020 05:36 PM Recorded on
  • Speedsta Recorded by
  • 12mm to 25mm Animal size

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