Jack jumper ant
The jack jumper ant is a big Australian ant that can jump. It is black or dark red, with yellow or orange legs and big jaws. When it gets upset or is hunting, it hops along in little leaps.
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Fun facts
It is named after the jumping-jack firecracker, because of the way it jumps around.
The workers can lay eggs and start a family even when there is no queen.
It has only one pair of chromosomes, the tiny instruction packs inside every cell. Most animals have many more.
A worker ant can live for more than one year.
Most asked questions about Jack jumper ant
?Can jack jumper ants really jump?
Yes. When they are upset or looking for food, they hop and leap, which gave them their name.
?Where do jack jumper ants live?
In Australia, mostly in Tasmania and the southeast, in bush and dry forests.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Myrmecia pilosula
- Named by
- Smith, 1858
- Group
- Ants
- Family
- Formicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Formicidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Jack jumper, Jumping jack, Hopper ant, Jumper ant
Where the facts come from
- Jack jumper 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 Steve Shattuck. CC BY 2.0, 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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