Camponotus suffusus

Golden-tailed sugar ant at Jerrabomberra, NSW

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Identification history

	Camponotus suffusus	10 Oct 2021	AlisonMilton
	Unidentified	10 Oct 2021	SteveBorkowskis

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User's notes

Approx 12-15mm, Golden banded abdomen, legs have maroon/red appearance.

2 comments

JonLewis wrote:

10 Oct 2021

Hi Alison & Steve, here's where we learn another lesson in ants - colour is, unfortunately, not a strong character trait for making an identification. Alison, you are quite right about this ID (and thanks for doing the other ones, by the way), even though this ant has differently coloured legs and head from sighting 4398598. Colour is often a good trait to use as a field character (i.e making an ID without a microscope) but not so reliable for a sure ID. Many ants change colour as they age, being a pale colour when they are very young and becoming increasingly dark as they age and are exposed to sunlight. Ant species identification for scientific purposes typically relies on a large number of traits, mostly detailed morphology observed under a microscope. Colour can come into the description of the ant and be used in keys for identification, but it is often quite variable - as demonstrated in this species of ant! Note, however, that while Camponotus suffusus may have a red to nearly black head, Camponotus aeneopilosus always has a black head. Thanks again for the sightings Steve, and the IDs Alison. Cheers, Jon

SteveBorkowskis wrote:

10 Oct 2021

Hi Jon, thanks for all the information, I’m really enjoying learning about all these ant species. Makes sense what you say about colour, I was finding it difficult to confidently suggest an ID for some of these ants as they didn’t exactly match the field guide pictures, makes sense now. Cheers Steve

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