Camponotus claripes at Jerrabomberra, NSW

Camponotus claripes

Pale-legged sugar ant at Jerrabomberra, NSW

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Identification history

	Camponotus claripes	10 Oct 2021	JonLewis
	Unidentified	10 Oct 2021	Steve_Bok

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User's notes

Accidentally disturbed nest while kneeling to take photos of another species, noticed about 20 individuals about 10mm, and one ant was considerably larger around 15mm with darker head and thorax

1 comment

JonLewis wrote:

10 Oct 2021

Hi Steve, thanks for all the sightings - you have had a busy time! Regarding your observation about small and big ants in this nest, some genera of ants are polymorphic, which is to say they can have different shape and sized ant in the same species. Camponotus ants almost always have a small "minor" class who do most of the work but also have a much smaller number of "major" ants which are much larger and have big heads. The major ants do guard duty as well as heavy work. Their heads are much bigger as they have big muscles to power their big jaws. Cheers, Jon

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