COMMON ANTS OF AUSTRALIA
The list of Ants in Australia:
Argentine Ant:
- Sugar eater
- It has 5-8 large teeth on the mandibles and 5-13 smaller denticles
- Resembles the white footed house ant, but is brown in colour
- Lacks a strong smell when quashed
Black house ant:
- Sugar eater
- A small intensely-black ant
- This ant has a distinguishing node
- Slightly smaller and stockier than the white footed house ant
- This is Australia’s most common house ant
Bulldog Ant:
- Protein eater
- One of the largest ants in Australia
- Red/black in colour and very aggressive
- Very long and straight mandibles with large eyes
- Painful sting
Coastal brown Ant:
- Fats and oils eater
- Golden brown to brown in colour
- Two raised nodes on pedicel (rear node more rounded)
- Polymorphic (major workers with large heads)
- Sting present
- Spines visible on thorax
Carpenter Ant:
- Sugar eater
- Variable in colour – from black to dark brown to orange
- Has a smooth, evenly rounder thorax
- Quite large in size
- Polymorphic (hard workers)
- Mandibles has 5-8 teeth
