Bull ant nuptial flight and frenzy

One day in March, there was sudden increased activity from bull ant population and I was lucky enough to witness nuptial flight and mating frenzy of Myrmecia brevinoda, 4 cm body length.

These are very large, formidable ants, well known for their long, powerful serrated mandibles, keen eyesight, highly defensive behaviour and powerful venom loaded sting.

Those that I saw, were climbing upward on the trees coming together as masses.....eventually, the large, writhing mating groups as seen here would drop to the ground with a thud. The frenzy and speed of movement within these masses was quite incredible and very exciting to observe - in fact I only took a couple of shots as I didn't want to miss a moment and in my haste my camera settings were not perfect and there is some blur to the shot.

After a minute, the groups would disband. I followed a few and noticed the males dying shortly afterwards