Jumbuck Sugar Ant
Major Worker, Face
Ellura
Ferguson's Sugar Ant
Minor Worker, profile
 
                      
Ferguson's Sugar Ant (Camponotus fergusoni)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera)
Family: Modern Ant (Ant: Formicidae Formicinae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Ferguson's Sugar Ant (Camponotus fergusoni)
This Photo:     🔍Minor Worker, dorsal🔎

Thank you Kate Sandiford for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
Minor Worker, ~7mm long.
Covered in fine pubescence.
Narrow face, tapering slightly at the bottom.
Vertex: straight. It does look a bit concave in the middle.
Partially red petiole and propodeum, both of which also have an unusual (unique?) raised lip on their posterior surface.
Otherwise black all over.
The gaster is covered in golden hair, which is why we noticed the ant compared with other black sugar ants in the first place. It seems to be in the holotype photo's as well, but not mentioned.

Copyright © 2020-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 24-Apr-2020
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.