Working together

Green Ants - Oecophylla smaragdina are amazing to watch.
http://www.jungledragon.com/image/37146 This it a Queen starting a new nest.
http://www.jungledragon.com/image/37147 Building the first nest.
http://www.jungledragon.com/image/37148 One more ...

comments (8)

Mark Ridgway

Lion

Great scene Christiane. Posted 9 years ago
1. Christiane Geissler
  
  Mountain Gorilla
  
  Thanks Mark.. Posted 9 years ago

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Both hilarious and fascinating. What are they doing in this scene? Transporting the leaf?

PS: please don't forget to set the country. Posted 9 years ago
1. Christiane Geissler
  
  Mountain Gorilla
  
  These are tree ants building a new nest.. Posted 9 years ago
2. Stuart
  
  Lion
  
  As Christiane says, they are building a new nest. The workers span the gap between 2 edges of a leaf and use their bodies to pull it together sort of like an 'Ant clamp'. Then another worker, with an ant larvae stimulates the larvae which secretes a special type of glue to join the leaf together. I don't think there's many ant's that do this (if any? I'll have to check). Pretty clever though, using the babies as little glue guns! Posted 9 years ago, modified 9 years ago
3. 1. Ferdy Christant
    
    Lion
    
    That's ridiculously specialist behavior, so cool! Posted 9 years ago

John Sullivan

Lion

Fantastic! I saw a bunch of these ants in the Northern Territory at various spots, but I never saw them doing anything as interesting as this. Posted 9 years ago

JHoppenbrouwers

Grizzly Bear

Really a funny scene! Posted 9 years ago

The Asian Weaver Ant

"Oecophylla smaragdina" is a species of arboreal ant found in Asia and Australia. They make nests in trees made of leaves stitched together using the silk produced by their larvae.

Info 25 2

Similar species: Wasps, Bees, Sawflies And Ants

Species identified by Christiane Geissler