Podomyrma adelaidae tends to a Lycaenid caterpillar. These caterpillars secrete substances that the ants find attractive, and the ants in turn provide protection from parasites. Poochera, South Australia - Alex Wild Photography - Insect Photography

Australian Ants

The wayward southern continent of Australia is famous for the strange and relictual creatures that have evolved in nearly complete isolation. The ants are no exception. Australia's ant fauna is both diverse and exceptionally abundant, with a host of species found nowhere else.

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Podomyrma sp.

Mungkan Kandju National Park, Queensland, Australia

Many Pheidole species are granivores. Here, a minor worker transports a grass seed back to her nest.

Diamond Creek, Victoria, Australia

A Pheidole minor worker has picked up a beetle carcass and is carrying it back to her nest. Ants are important scavengers and recyclers of dead arthropods.

Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia

Pheidologeton affinis, supermajor and minor workers attacking a beetle grub. Supermajors have powerful mandibles useful for cutting up and carrying large prey items. The supermajor pictured here was able to single-handedly drag this very large beetle larva across the substrate while I photographed them.

Rossville, Queensland, Australia

Pheidologeton affinis, supermajor and minor workers. Pheidologeton has one of the most pronounced size differences among nestmate workers of any ant.

Rossville, Queensland, Australia

Platythyrea turneri

Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria, Australia

Podomyrma gastralis, found in New Guinea and Northern Australia, is a large, brightly colored arboreal ant.

Iron Range National Park, Queensland, Australia

A Podomyrma gratiosa worker forages on a tree trunk. These large ants are almost exclusively arboreal, and their swollen legs contain muscles to help them grip the bark firmly.

Naracoorte, South Australia

Podomyrma adelaidae tends to a Lycaenid caterpillar. These caterpillars secrete substances that the ants find attractive, and the ants in turn provide protection from parasites.

Poochera, South Australia

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Australian Ants

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