Rattle Ant - Polyrhachis (Cyrtomyrma) sp., Polyrhachis australis
Subfamily Formicinae
- This page contains pictures and information about Rattle Ants that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia. They are also known as Black Weaver Ants and Dome-backed Spiny Ants.
- Body length 7mm
- The Rattle Ants are shiny black in colour, with body length about 7mm. Their legs and antenna are all black. They are usually found wandering alone on plants leaves, looking for foods.
- Their nests are build on trees. They are built using plants leaves, dry plant materials and soil which are woven together with silk of their larvae. Sometimes the ants colony builds more than one nest on the same plant.
- When their nest is disturbed, a number of ants will come out and look for the intruder. They will also make the distinct 'rattle' noise by movement across the hard leaf surface to warn the intruder..
Ants Tree House
On March 2003 we found a Rattle Ant nest in the front yard of my office. We looked at them everyday. One day, we noticed that the number of ants is reduced. A few days later, all ants were not there, left only the empty nest. So we took the nest home to have a further look.
We believed the ants left the nest could be due to too much of our interruption. The nest was in the middle of the plants. For easier observation, We had removed some of the branches block our vision. Although we did not affect the construction of the ants nest, there were more sun light shined on the nest because of the changes..
The nest are constructed by three leaves and two dead leaves, about 10cm x 4cm in size. When open the nest, I find there was still one ant inside, which is smaller than normal, about 5mm body length.
Building nest - weaving with larvae's silk
Near one of the Rattle Ant colonies, we found two Rattle Ants. One ant was holding a larva, the other pulling out some silks from the larva. There was some silks attaching one leaf from anther leaf. We understood that those ants were just start to build a new room for their colony.
- Reference:
- 1. Wildlife of Greater Brisbane - New edition, Published by Queensland Museum 2007, p169.
