Myrmecia desertorum

Myrmecia desertorum is an Australian ant species belonging to the genus Myrmecia. They were first described by Wheeler in 1915, and are distributed all over Australia.[1]

Myrmecia desertorum
Worker
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Hymenoptera
Family:
Formicidae
Subfamily:
Myrmeciinae
Genus:
Myrmecia
Species:
M. desertorum
Binomial name
Myrmecia desertorum
Wheeler, 1915

Myrmecia desertorum are common nationwide. They are typically 18-26 millimetres long. They are usually a reddish yellow colour. Their heads and gaster are in a blackish brown colour, and mandibles and clypeus are of a yellow colour.[2][3]

Behavior

Myrmecia desertorum are highly aggressive ants. They are nocturnal and blend easily into a background of dry leaf-litter. They do not lay pheromone trails for foraging and are solitary foragers. They establish permanent nests which resemble huge crater-like depressions, with several nest openings. A poke into any of these openings results in a surge of workers running out with mandibles wide open. They have extraordinarily large eyes. They primarily feed on insects. It was in these ants that an antibiotic in the metapleural gland was discovered.[4][5]

References
  1. "Myrmecia desertorum Wheeler, 1915". Atlas of Living Australia. Govt of Australia. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  2. Clark, John (1951). The Formicidae of Australia (Volume 1) (PDF). Melbourne: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia. pp. 59–61.
  3. Clark, John (1925). The ants of Victoria. Part II. Melbourne. p. 144.
  4. Schmidt, J.O (2009). Journal of Hymenoptera research.
  5. Brown, William (1953). Revisionary notes on the ant genus Myrmecia of Australia (PDF). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. p. 19.
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