Golden-tail Bull Ant - Myrmecia chrysogaster
Subfamily Myrmeciinae
This page contains pictures and information about Golden-tail Bull Ants that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 15mm
- The ant has the black head and body, red legs and golden abdomen.
- We sometime saw this ant searching on barks and between leaves.
- This Golden-tail Bull Ants are quite common in Karawatha Forest.
- Once we saw a Golden-tail Bull Ant walking on a tree trunk. When we came to have a closer look, the ant ran away and jumped but dropped on to a messy spider web.
- The ant was entangled by the silks but it seemed not panic at all. It cut the silks bit by bit by its long jaws. About a minute it cut and cleaned most of the entangled silks. The spider is a few centimeters away but did not even try to attacked the ant. The ant slowly walk away on the web.
- The spider was the Comb-footed Platform Spider. It repaired its messy web after the ant walked away.
- We saw different species of bull ants, included the Jumper Ant, walking freely on spider web.
Escaped from Spider Web
Found a Spider
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- Photos were taken on late winter Aug 2009, when there were not many other insects can be seen. The worker ant found a spider, looked like a Wolf Spider. The ant seemed very excited and rushing back to the nest. We followed it for about 10 minutes, but lose it among the plant materials on the floor.
Predator vs. Predator
- In Ford Road Conservation Area on Oct 2011, We found a Golden-tail Bull Ant fighting with a Garden Jumping Spider on forest floor. We saw them when they are in the middle of the fighting. The spider was biting at the ant's face with her large fangs. The ant returned by punching the spider's abdomen with its tail sting. Both of them were rolling together on ground.
- The fight was vigorous and last for about 10 seconds. The fight ended with the spider stop moving. The ant seemed no hurt although there was some liquid on its face, could be the ant's bleed or the spider's venom.
- The ant then moved the spider to its nest.
- Reference:
- 1. Australian Ant Image Database - Australian Ant Image Database, R.W Taylor.
