Titan Pony Ant
Petiole Front
Titan Pony Ant
Anal Hairs
Animals
Plants
Info
| Titan Pony Ant Petiole Front | | Titan Pony Ant Anal Hairs | | ||
Animals Plants Info |
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | ||||||||||||
| Order: | Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera) | |||||||||||||
| Family: | Pony Ant (Ant: Formicidae Ectatomminae) iNaturalist Observation | |||||||||||||
| Species: | Titan Pony Ant (Rhytidoponera mayri)| This Photo: | Petiole Side | Thank you Kate Sandiford, Grant Wang (PonerineCat) & Clara Dandridge for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Riverland and elsewhere The worker caste is ~13mm long. The shape of the top of their heads is diagnostic, almost with ears pointing up, as is the petiole. The bottom of the front "shoulders" have small spurs. Under the head is concave, terminating in sharp edges to the rear of the "cheeks". They have a very scaloped exoskeleton. They have thick spines on the front legs, which are well hidden. These are quite abundant on Ellura, and in other semi-arid evironments. Apparantly they have long term permenant nests, so will focus on a local nest during the remaining 2 moths (Mar & Jul) expecting that they don't close their nest at all.
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