Dolichoderinae (subfamily)
Queanbeyan West, NSW
Identify this sighting
| Dolichoderinae (subfamily) | 20 Apr 2020 | JonLewis | ||
| Dolichoderinae (subfamily) | 20 Apr 2020 | JonLewis | ||
| Dolichoderus sp. (genus) | 17 Apr 2020 | MichaelMulvaney | ||
| Unverified | 14 Apr 2020 | Speedsta |
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User's notes
We think it is a queen and ready to lay eggs
2 comments
JonLewis
wrote:
20 Apr 2020
Hi Speedsta, sorry about the slow response. You and your daughters are right - this is a reproductive ant: an alate female.
It's an alate because it has wings, and you can tell it's a female because it has a normal shaped head and mandibles so it can eat. Males are always much smaller and have small heads without proper mandibles, because after they leave the nest on a mating flight, they don't live very long (maybe only a few hours), so don't need to eat.
The ant in your photo could be a "princess" who has not yet mated, or she could have mated and is now looking for a place to dig a nest. I can't be sure about the genus of the ant, but it is likely to be an Iridomyrmex.
Cheers, Jon
It's an alate because it has wings, and you can tell it's a female because it has a normal shaped head and mandibles so it can eat. Males are always much smaller and have small heads without proper mandibles, because after they leave the nest on a mating flight, they don't live very long (maybe only a few hours), so don't need to eat.
The ant in your photo could be a "princess" who has not yet mated, or she could have mated and is now looking for a place to dig a nest. I can't be sure about the genus of the ant, but it is likely to be an Iridomyrmex.
Cheers, Jon
Location information
- Coordinates 149.199012-35.362418
- Maps Queanbeyan Nature Reserve
- Places Queanbeyan West, NSW
Sighting information
- 16 - 100 Abundance
- 14 Apr 2020 04:17 PM Recorded on
- Speedsta Recorded by
- 5mm to 12mm Animal size
- Female Gender
- Egg laying Breeding behaviour
Collections
- Insects Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Speedsta Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Dolichoderinae (subfamily)
Species information
- Dolichoderinae (subfamily) Scientific name
- Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 987.3m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Record quality
Quality score
5 / 7
- Images or audio
- Verified by an expert moderator
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
- More than one media file
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species