Spider ant at Numeralla, NSW
Identification history
| Leptomyrmex sp. (genus) | 17 Mar 2022 | JonLewis | ||
| Leptomyrmex erythrocephalus | 13 Mar 2022 | SteveBorkowskis |
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User's notes
I’m guessing this may be a Leptomyrmex erythrocephalus Queen? Attracted to UV light.
1 comment
JonLewis
wrote:
17 Mar 2022
Hi Steve, I think you are right about the genus - the very long thin legs, the long head and long projecting mandibles all point to Leptomyrmex. I'm pretty sure this is a male rather than a queen, and there is very little information on males to allow us to ID it to species. There are at least three species of Leptomyrmex we could get where you found this ant, including L. erythrocephalus, L. wiburdi and L nigriventris. Interestingly, though, if it was a queen, we could be sure of one thing - it can't be Leptomyrmex erythrocephalus, as this is one of the species in this genus which has "ergatoid" queens, which means the queens don't have wings, they just have to walk everywhere when they leave the nest to find a mate! There is some interesting reading at https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Leptomyrmex_erythrocephalus. Good sighting. Cheers, Jon
Location information
- Places Numeralla, NSW
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 12 Mar 2022 11:02 PM Recorded on
- SteveBorkowskis Recorded by
Additional information
- 12mm to 25mm Animal size
Species information
- Leptomyrmex sp. (genus) Scientific name
- Spider ant Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 759.05m Recorded at altitude
- Machine learning
- External link More information
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
