Green-head ant

Rhytidoponera metallica

The green-head ant, ''Rhytidoponera metallica'', often simply referred to as the green ant, is a metallic-green coloured ant, generally 5–7 millimetres in length, that can be found throughout Australia, particularly in urban and suburban areas.
Green-head ants with pupae Poking around in the earth, I unfortunately disturbed a green-head ant nest and sent the colony in to instant panic. 
The pupae can be seen here which are the larvae wrapped in a cocoon....these will metamorphose in to adult ants. 

Green-heads are endemic to this country and are well known for their distinctive metallic appearance - also for their painful, venomous sting. 

Body length 5 mm.  Australia,Formicidae,Geotagged,Green-head ant,Hymenoptera,Metallic pony ant,Rhytidoponera metallica,ant,ant pupae,arthropod,autumn,fauna,green-head ant,insect,invertebrate,new south wales

Behavior

Green-head queens are semi-claustral, and forage for food themselves during the early stages of a colony. Queens are difficult to distinguish from workers, they generally have the same build, but are slightly larger with a more pronounced thorax and gaster.

Workers forage alone and are omnivorous, however a majority of their diet consists of other insects. Colonies can range from small colonies, to large ones that can be around a metre deep into the ground and contain around a hundred workers.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderHymenoptera
FamilyFormicidae
GenusRhytidoponera
SpeciesR. metallica
Photographed in
Australia