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Australian Wildlife

  Bulldog Ant (Myrmecia brevinoda)





Bulldog Ant | Myrmecia brevinoda photo
Bulldog Ant, Myrmecia brevinoda, University Collection, Brisbane,

Image by Fritz Geller-Grimm - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







BULLDOG ANT FACTS

Identification
Bulldog Ant worker has dark red head, thorax and body down to the "waist". The mandibles, antennae, and legs are lighter red. The bulbous part of the abdomen (gaster) is black. The body has sparse short yellow hairs. The mandibles are long - about same length as the head with thirteen teeth, with every third tooth larger and broader than the other two in between. The queen is larger and sturdier than the workers with similar colour. The queen has shorter mandibles, and only one small tooth between the larger teeth instead of two. Myrmecia brevinoda is one of the largest ants in Australia.

Size
Length: worker 13mm to 20mm; Queen about 25mm.

Range
found in eastern Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria



Classification
Class:Insecta
Order:Hymenoptera
Family:Formicidae
Genus:Myrmecia
Species:brevinoda
Common Name:Bulldog Ant

Relatives in same Genus
  Tasmanian Inchman (M. esuriens)
  Bulldog Ant (M. forficata)
  Red Bull Ant (M. gulosa)
  Bulldog Ant (M. nigriceps)
  Jack Jumper Ant (M. pilosula)