Bull ant pictures (Myrmecia sp)

[schmiggle]

Just curious. What senses do these ants use when they decide to maim humans? Scent? Eyesight? Radar?

Ants usually operate on smell, but bull ants probably use an element of vision as well, given their well developed eyes.

Also I think "maim" is an exaggeration.

 

[Dave Jay]

Ants usually operate on smell, but bull ants probably use an element of vision as well, given their well developed eyes.

Also I think "maim" is an exaggeration.

I don't know, those Jumping Jack ones are psychos! Pull up a weed and next minute you're covered in them up to your armpits! They burn like fire, I'd rather deep fry with bare hands than weed a garden bed where they nest!

 

[schmiggle]

I don't know, those Jumping Jack ones are psychos! Pull up a weed and next minute you're covered in them up to your armpits! They burn like fire, I'd rather deep fry with bare hands than weed a garden bed where they nest!

Lol. I'm sure they're quite capable of causing pain, but at least you're left with all parts intact.

 

[The Snark]

Also I think "maim" is an exaggeration.

While initially intended as an exaggeration, upon consideration the use of the word maim seems closer to the intent of the attack mode of ants. They aren't biting as venom bearing animals normally do, to subdue; their bites are intended to dissolve. Destroy tissues as rapidly as possible in order for the material to be most easily carried back to the nest. Thus 'maim' more aptly describes than envenom. Compare to a neurotoxin that's purpose is to paralyze.
We could easily digress at this point, with the Russells and Saw Scale vipers as an example by having venom that varies. In warmer climes the toxin is predominantly neurotoxic to arrest the victim rapidly while in colder climes it's also hemotoxic, facilitating digestion.

 

[Chickenfeeder100]

Myrmecia nigrocincta:
View attachment 266708
View attachment 266709
View attachment 266712
Update: Two of the larvae have become pupae and the queen is starting to prowl around the enclosure less now that there's no big hungry grubs to feed. She only leaves her test tube to drink honey from the bottle cap

meanwhile, there's this weird asian guy crying in a corner because all he has is a lasius neoniger queen.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

Just curious. What senses do these ants use when they decide to maim humans? Scent? Eyesight? Radar?

Ants usually operate on smell, but bull ants probably use an element of vision as well, given their well developed eyes.

These ants are almost entirely sight oriented when it come to tracking prey and attacking predators. They're so primitive and sight oriented that they don't really even use pheromones, they only really seem to pick up on scents hen they get really close to prey.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

Also I think "maim" is an exaggeration.

I don't know, those serrated mandibles can leave some pretty impressive cuts if they get a good hold on you.

While initially intended as an exaggeration, upon consideration the use of the word maim seems closer to the intent of the attack mode of ants. They aren't biting as venom bearing animals normally do, to subdue; their bites are intended to dissolve. Destroy tissues as rapidly as possible in order for the material to be most easily carried back to the nest. Thus 'maim' more aptly describes than envenom. Compare to a neurotoxin that's purpose is to paralyze.
We could easily digress at this point, with the Russells and Saw Scale vipers as an example by having venom that varies. In warmer climes the toxin is predominantly neurotoxic to arrest the victim rapidly while in colder climes it's also hemotoxic, facilitating digestion.

these ants have two venom components much like wasps, one paralyses the prey and the other is injected back in the nest to digest it later. These ants are solitary hunters and as such they grab hold of the prey and haul it back to the nest on their own in one full piece like a hornet

Edit: Just bought the Myrmecia tepperi, let's see how this goes!

 

[Dennis Nedry]

meanwhile, there's this weird asian guy crying in a corner because all he has is a lasius neoniger queen.

Just wait, you should have heaps of new queens if you keep an eye out

 

[The Snark]

These ants are almost entirely sight oriented when it come to tracking prey and attacking predators.

I've suspected this. They sure act like they see you coming. Remember seeing some in Daintree where you just get near, a foot or two, and they raise their heads and spread the mandibles.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

Just a bit of an update, I'll get pictures on the weekend.

I caught a Myrmecia pilosula queen recently but no eggs yet so we'll see if she's fertile, there was a second queen I ran across but didn't manage to catch.

The nigrocincta have three or four new pupae and a couple big larvae on the way.

The tepperi queen has arrived, tiny and beautiful. Black body with a gold tipped abdomen, imagine like a black and gold chocolate dipped strawberry. Not as big as the piliventris or fulvipes and with less hold but still awesome. She's got two pupae so I'll have to wait.

The pyriformis has laid many more eggs but none have hatched, it takes a long time for such large ants to develop into larvae and then to adults. The eggs are all grouped together which means she very well could be fertile.

The giant black tailed red Myrmecia I photographed and posted in an earlier comment are M. brevinoda, one of if not the largest species of Myrmecia and one of the biggest of all ants. Out of all the candidates for largest ant species, these are definitely the most aggro

 

[Dennis Nedry]

The tepperi queen:
Her test tube is quite dirty, trying to get her to move into a single chamber acrylic nest.

The pyriformis queen:
Feeding on a cricket, stopped moving almost as soon a the ant stung it.

 

[Dave Jay]

You got me interested in ants now you little .........!!! Just what I need, another group of inverts to collect!!!
Anyway, I came across this just now. From The Advertiser in 2015
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/...s/news-story/67647ad703ae0376387f6dc1ba53765a
In case the link doesn't work and to save people time I'll condense the article.

The native hopper ant (Myrmecia pilosula), also known as the jack jumper, packs a painful sting from its tail — but for a significant proportion of people the consequences can be much greater.

Prof Heddle said the aggressive ant, which moves with a distinctive hopping motion, has been responsible — along with its cousin, the inch ant — for a least six deaths in Tasmania and Victoria in recent years, although he believes deaths caused by the insects are probably underreported.

“There have probably been a number of deaths that have been attributed to heart issues,” Prof Heddle said.

He said that, from GPs’ referral patterns, the ants appeared to be responsible for about 30 to 40 per cent of insect-related anaphylactic shock in the state.

“You do need to have had previous stings to develop an allergy, but the number of stings needed can vary from person to person,” Prof Heddle said.

“Some people seem to be more susceptible, and we don’t really know why. Some people will experience anaphylaxis on their third bite, and others on their 20th. It can be very serious, and I have seen people who have been cognitively impaired after their experience.”

It goes on to relate peoples experiences.

I thought people might be interested in some verified info, I assume this Prof Heddle is regarded as an expert.

I live in the Adelaide Hills/Mt Lofty Ranges area so no doubt these would be the ants I used to encounter while gardening. I used to tell people when I saw spider bites and red running up my arms from the bite but never ants, I never worried much about their bites/stings at all, just painful I thought. When bitten by a spider I didn't panic, I'd keep working but tell someone "I've been bitten by a spider so if you see me laying under a bush I'm not having a sneaky nap on the job!".

Anyway, I'm looking up the times different species have their mating flights so I know when to keep an eye out for queens. I would assume it's not the start of winter though so I probably have plenty of time.
Edit - Damn, it looks like I just missed it according to this chart.


Edit - I found this video to be very inspiring, I think ferrero rocher containers would work too.
https://www.gamergate.com.au/new-bl...ld-an-ant-nest-tubs-tubes-from-ants-australia

Btw, my wife said "forget about it" when she saw what I was watching, but I've heard that before! lol!

 

[Dennis Nedry]

You got me interested in ants now you little .........!!! Just what I need, another group of inverts to collect!!!
Anyway, I came across this just now. From The Advertiser in 2015
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/...s/news-story/67647ad703ae0376387f6dc1ba53765a
In case the link doesn't work and to save people time I'll condense the article.

The native hopper ant (Myrmecia pilosula), also known as the jack jumper, packs a painful sting from its tail — but for a significant proportion of people the consequences can be much greater.

Prof Heddle said the aggressive ant, which moves with a distinctive hopping motion, has been responsible — along with its cousin, the inch ant — for a least six deaths in Tasmania and Victoria in recent years, although he believes deaths caused by the insects are probably underreported.

“There have probably been a number of deaths that have been attributed to heart issues,” Prof Heddle said.

He said that, from GPs’ referral patterns, the ants appeared to be responsible for about 30 to 40 per cent of insect-related anaphylactic shock in the state.

“You do need to have had previous stings to develop an allergy, but the number of stings needed can vary from person to person,” Prof Heddle said.

“Some people seem to be more susceptible, and we don’t really know why. Some people will experience anaphylaxis on their third bite, and others on their 20th. It can be very serious, and I have seen people who have been cognitively impaired after their experience.”

It goes on to relate peoples experiences.

I thought people might be interested in some verified info, I assume this Prof Heddle is regarded as an expert.

I live in the Adelaide Hills/Mt Lofty Ranges area so no doubt these would be the ants I used to encounter while gardening. I used to tell people when I saw spider bites and red running up my arms from the bite but never ants, I never worried much about their bites/stings at all, just painful I thought. When bitten by a spider I didn't panic, I'd keep working but tell someone "I've been bitten by a spider so if you see me laying under a bush I'm not having a sneaky nap on the job!".

Anyway, I'm looking up the times different species have their mating flights so I know when to keep an eye out for queens. I would assume it's not the start of winter though so I probably have plenty of time.
Edit - Damn, it looks like I just missed it according to this chart.
View attachment 275015

Edit - I found this video to be very inspiring, I think ferrero rocher containers would work too.
https://www.gamergate.com.au/new-bl...ld-an-ant-nest-tubs-tubes-from-ants-australia

Btw, my wife said "forget about it" when she saw what I was watching, but I've heard that before! lol!

I keep all but one of mine in Ferrero rocher containers so that'll definitely work.

You can find them long after nuptial flights when the queens forage for food, they don't have the fat reserves to fast until their first workers develop like most ants so they hunt yo feed their young and themselves. That's how I found the pyriformis and pilosula

 

[Ilich]

How ya goin'? What kind of life-span do they typically have?

 

[Dennis Nedry]

How ya goin'? What kind of life-span do they typically have?

Workers live about a year, queens live well over a decade

 

[Ilich]

Workers live about a year, queens live well over a decade

That's a lot longer than I expected, is that common?

 

[Dennis Nedry]

That's a lot longer than I expected, is that common?

Most queen ants live over a decade but usually the workers are much shorter lived, primitive ants like Myrmecia, Odontomachus, etc have long lived workers

 

[Ilich]

Most queen ants live over a decade but usually the workers are much shorter lived, primitive ants like Myrmecia, Odontomachus, etc have long lived workers

This is because they're a hardier species, then? Is there any explanation as to why they live much longer than most other worker ants?

 

[Dennis Nedry]

This is because they're a hardier species, then? Is there any explanation as to why they live much longer than most other worker ants?

They're hardy but I don't think that has to do with long life. More likely it has to do with the fact that these ants are huge, take ages to go from egg to worker and they have small colonies (only about 10,000 workers in a mature colony for nigrocincta which is quite small for an ant) so require longer lived workers to support and help grow the colony

 

[Ilich]

They're hardy but I don't think that has to do with long life. More likely it has to do with the fact that these ants are huge, take ages to go from egg to worker and they have small colonies (only about 10,000 workers in a mature colony for nigrocincta which is quite small for an ant) so require longer lived workers to support and help grow the colony

Ah, so then they're just a product of evolution. That's pretty interesting, learning a lot of new stuff since I've come to these forums, it's pretty cool.