Rhytidoponera metallica

(Green-head ants)

Description

These ants are fairly generalist feeders, being predatory and scavengers, but also being known on occasion to collect seeds and berries. They have a sting described as painful “out of proportion to their size’. They generally forage singly, but can recruit others sometimes with an odor trail and communicate alarm not only by pheromones but also by stridulation, that is by rubbing body parts together to produce sound. Figured is a specimen seen in Brisbane, photo courtesy Alex Wild. http://www.myrmecos.net/ants/