Green-head ant
The green-head ant is a shiny ant that glitters green, purple or reddish violet like metal. It is one of the most common insects in Australia. It is busy in the daytime, hunting small insects and gathering sweet food.
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Fun facts
In this ant, ordinary workers can lay eggs, so a nest hardly ever needs a queen.
It is one of the first insects to come back to burnt land, as soon as the embers have gone cold.
It spreads seeds of many plants by carrying them around.
Echidnas and many birds like to eat it.
It helps farmers by eating pests like beetles, moths and termites.
Most asked questions about Green-head ant
?Why is it called the green-head ant?
Because its body shines metallic green, sometimes purple or reddish.
?Where do green-head ants live?
Almost everywhere in Australia except Tasmania, from deserts and forests to towns.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Rhytidoponera metallica
- Named by
- Smith, 1858
- Group
- Ants
- Family
- Formicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Formicidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Green-head ant (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Steroid Maximus. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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