the structure of the segments of the body, absence or presence of
a sting, and a few other minor characters. The leading specialists
differ somewhat in the sequence of these groups; I follow Forel in
placing the _Ponerinae_ at the head of the family; and for a good
classification and definition of the genera would refer my readers
to Emery’s paper in the “Annales de la Societe Entomologique de
Belgique,” Vol. xl., 1896. All our species described before 1858 are
listed in Smith’s British Museum “Catalogue of the Formicidae,” where
he described a number of new species: Lowne described a number of new
species collected in the neighbourhood of Sydney in the Entomologist,
Vol. ii., 1865: Mayr in several papers, chief of which are
“Myrmecologische Studien,” “Neue Formiciden,” and “Die Australischen
Formiciden” added many up to 1876. Emery, Forel, and others have
since added to the list; and in Dalla Torre’s great “Catalogue of the
Hymenoptera,” published in 1893, all species described up to that date
are recorded. I have lately (1905) published a list of Australian
species (Miscellaneous Publications No. 889, Dep. Agr. N.S.W.),
including all Forel and others have added to our fauna, in which
nearly 400 species are recorded, without counting the large number
of races and varieties into which some of them are divided. From my
own researches I think a great many more will be found when they are
systematically collected in the tropical scrubs and the dry districts
in the interior, which as yet have hardly been touched.
* * * * *
The sub-family PONERINAE includes many large or medium sized ants with
elongated bodies furnished with only one constricted segment or node
at the base of the abdomen, and the latter terminating in a powerful
sting. The larvae are enclosed in stout silken cocoons. The Genus
_Myrmecia_ contains most of our largest typical species peculiar to
Australia, popularly known as “bull-dog ants,” “inchmen,” or “jumpers”;
about 34 species have been described, some of which have a very wide
range. The “Jumper,” _Myrmecia albo-cincta_, forms its nest under
the shelter of a low bush; it is a low mound with an opening on the
summit, and another on the side level with the ground; when disturbed
these ants come rushing out like a pack of dogs with a series of short
jumps, and attack everything they meet. It is one of the smaller
species, about ½ an inch in length, of a uniform black colour, with
only the front and hind portion of the thorax brownish red to yellow.
_Myrmecia forficata_ is our large red and black “bull-dog ant,” with a
very extended range like the previous one from Victoria to Queensland.
They measure up to 1 inch in length, and are of a uniform dull red,
except the eyes and abdomen, which are black. They live in rather large
colonies up to 200 in number, digging deep circular shafts or irregular
chambers under logs; when away from the latter, they form regular domed
mounds over the nests, which in summer contain the large, elongated,
oval, brown sacks enclosing the pupae, and often a number of winged
males and females; the former with small heads and jaws, the latter
with jaws as large or larger than those of the workers. _Myrmecia
gulosa_ is of a lighter red colour, with the tip of the abdomen black.
_M. tarsata_ is our common black bull-dog ant, with yellow jaws, and
antennae and tips of the legs reddish brown; it has a great habit of
hunting up and down the larger tree trunks, and drops to the ground at
the least alarm; when disturbed in the nest, if the first two or three
are captured, the others will usually retreat down their burrows, and
not show fight like the other species. Sharp notes the bull-dog as
forming large mounds (Cambridge Natural History); but I think he was
misinformed, as the nests of the Mound Ant, _Iridomyrmex detectus_,
are often confounded with these ants. The Genus _Odontomachus_
contains a number of curious slender black ants with large heads and
long projecting jaws; they are more tropical in their range, but _O.
ruficeps_ and its varieties are found from the Darling River N.S. Wales
through Queensland to North Australia.
The “Green-head,” _Ectatomma metallicum_, is a common ant of medium
size that lives in small communities under stones or logs, and often
makes nests in the dry banks of lawns in our gardens. Though somewhat
sluggish, they sting sharply if they crawl on one when resting on the
grass. About 28 species and many varieties of this genus occur in
Australia; one in New Zealand; and 3 in New Caledonia. The members
of the Genus _Ponera_ are remarkable for their extended range; we
have several species or varieties in Queensland closely allied to
species from South America, Borneo, Europe, and Africa, while three
are recorded from New Zealand; _Euponera lutea_, a slender pale yellow
ant with the abdominal segment constricted, lives in small communities
under stones or roots. It ranges from Sydney to Fremantle, round to N.
Queensland. _Pachycondyla piliventris_ is a large, hairy black ant with
large head and rounded body, roughened, and clothed with fine rusty
down. They are generally found under stones in communities of a dozen
or so, and when exposed or disturbed pretend to be dead, with their
legs folded up under the body; they are common about Sydney.
Six species of the Genus _Sphinctomyrmex_ are found chiefly in the
North. They are somewhat rare ants; I have found two species, both
small, slender, dull brownish yellow insects living under stones; _S.
froggatti_ in a vineyard near Sydney; and the second, _S. hednigae_, in
the New England district under large stones.
* * * * *
The second sub-family, DORYLINAE, comprises ants with the antennae
placed close together in the front of the head, the abdomen elongated,
with the first segment forming an irregular node. This group
contains some very remarkable ants in Africa and America, but is
only represented in Australia by two species belonging to the Genus
_Ænictus_, both of which are described from specimens collected by
Turner at Mackay, Queensland.
* * * * *
The third sub-family, MYRMICINAE, is well represented here; they are
all small or medium sized ants, with the base of the abdomen formed
into two small nodes, and the sting rudimentary; the pupa naked and not
enclosed in a cocoon. Many of them live in very large communities.
The members of the Genus _Meranoplus_ are tiny little brown ants with
rounded heads and bodies, resembling some of the small wingless female
Mutillid in shape and habits, for though they form irregular galleries
under stones or in dry banks, they are generally found running up and
down tree trunks; when touched they curl up the body and sham death.
_Meranoplus oceanicus_, reddish brown, is common in N.S. Wales; _M.
pubescens_ has a very wide range right round Australia.
* * * * *
_Monomorium pharaonis_ is our tiny red house-ant introduced from
Europe, now world wide in its range; and when once it becomes
established in a house is a difficult pest to destroy. _M. rubriceps_,
a much larger species but under ¼ of an inch in length, is bright
reddish brown, with the nodes very small and the apical portion of
the abdomen black, and broadly rounded. It is found crawling upon the
trunks of trees, and has a wide range from Sydney to Cape York. The
typical tree-trunk ants included in the Genus _Podomyrma_ are much
larger ants, sluggish in their habits, forming their nests in tree
stems and always found crawling about the trunks. They are broad-headed
ants with short stout jaws toothed at the tips; the thorax is widest
in front, tapering to the narrow pedicle of the broadly rounded
abdomen; the thighs of the legs are thickened in the centre. _Podomyrma
gratiosa_, under ½ an inch in length, is bright reddish brown, rugose
and spined on the front margin of the thorax, with the abdomen black,
smooth, and shining; it is widely distributed over Australia from
Adelaide to Cape York. _P. adelaidae_ is a smaller species with black
legs, and a distinct oval brown blotch on either side of the black
abdomen; it is common in South Australia and Victoria. _P. bimaculata_
is still smaller, with the blotches on the abdomen smaller and more
oval; I have had it from Kalgoorlie W.A., and Wagga N.S. Wales.
[Illustration: Plate XIV.--HYMENOPTERA.
Family FORMICIDAE.
1. _Iridomyrmex detectus_ (Smith).
2. _Polyrhachis semi-aurata_ (Mayr).
3. _Myrmecia gulosa_ (Fabr.).
4. _Ectatomma metallicum_ (Smith).
5. _Iridomyrmex rufoniger_ (Lowne).
6. _Camponotus nigriceps_ (Smith).]
[Illustration: _Plate XIV.--HYMENOPTERA._]
The Genus _Pheidole_ is well represented in Australia by 22 species and
many varieties found in all parts of the country, forming irregular
chambers and galleries under stones and logs; they are tiny reddish
brown ants, with a very large headed form of soldiers often four or
five times the size of the ordinary workers. The winged forms are
also very large in proportion. _Pheidole bos_ is dark reddish brown,
the soldiers furnished with very large swollen heads; it ranges from
Western Australia to Victoria. _P. anthracina_ is a darker coloured
form, ranging from the northern portion of N.S. Wales into Queensland.
The members of the Genus _Cremastogaster_ are very small black, brown,
or dull yellow coloured ants with longer legs, and heart-shaped bodies;
they live in large communities in nests under logs and stones. _C.
fusca_ is black with reddish tarsi, and a reddish tint on the thorax;
it comes from Queensland. _C. pallipes_ and _C. ruficeps_ are
lighter coloured, found under stones about Sydney.
_Sima laeviceps_ is a very curious elongated shining black ant with
reddish brown antennae and tarsi, which ranges up the Queensland coast
to N.W. Australia, and is found crawling about on tree trunks, when
touched curling its body up like a wasp and shamming death.
* * * * *
The sub-family DOLICHODERINAE comprises a number of small or medium
sized ants living often in very large communities and having naked
pupae. The base of the abdomen consists of a single small node
with no constriction between the two following segments; sting
practically wanting (rudimentary). The typical Genus _Dolichoderus_
is represented here by five species widely distributed. _D. doriae_
is common about Sydney living in large communities under logs, often
clustered over each other like a swarm of bees; they collect on the
leaves of eucalypts, upon which the sugar lerp psylla, (_Spondylaspis
eucalypti_) constructs its larval scales, and suck or lick up the
sugary exudation. This ant measures ¼ of an inch in length; the head
and thorax are black and roughened; the legs reddish brown, and the
flattened heart-shaped abdomen clothed with a silvery pubescence.
_Leptomyrmex erythrocephalus_ might well be called the “Silly Ant” from
the aimless manner in which it rushes about with its head stuck up in
the air, and its abdomen curled over its back. They live in underground
nests sometimes deep down, but others live under stones; they are
slender-bodied, long-legged black ants under ½ an inch in length, with
an oval red head, rounded behind with long slender antennae, and the
front of the thorax produced into a slender neck. In some varieties the
whole of the thorax, legs, and head are yellowish brown.
The typical Genus _Iridomyrmex_ contains 18 distinct species, some
of which have been subdivided into three or four varieties or races;
most of them are small, except our “Mound Ant,” sometimes known as the
“Meat Ant,” _Iridomyrmex detectus_, which is the commonest and most
widely distributed ant in Australia. They construct large mounds a
couple of feet above the surface of the ground, and two or three yards
in diameter; they are formed of the soil excavated from beneath when
forming their network of irregular open galleries; the upper surface is
pierced with numbers of rounded vertical shafts, up which they swarm
in countless thousands and attack any intruder, biting savagely with
their stout sharp jaws and making things generally unpleasant for the
stranger. When a mound is situated in open grassed country, one can
trace regular bare roads leading off from the nest, worn smooth by the
regular stream of ants passing backward and forward day after day. It
is too well known to need description, but measures about ⅓ of an
inch in length, and is of a general brownish purple tint, with the
head light reddish brown. Smith described the worker under the name of
_Formica purpurea_, and the male as _F. detectus_, so in most Museum
collections it will be found under the former specific name. Forel has
made a new variety, which he calls _Var sanguineus_, of the coastal
form found in North Queensland, with the head and thorax light reddish
brown.
Most of the other species are small black ants: _Iridomyrmex rufoniger_
is very common in the bush and in the gardens; a variety which Forel
has called _domesticus_ is the common black ant that comes into
the house in Sydney, and is a regular pest in the summer in many
districts. _Tapinoma minutum_ is about as large as the “Mound Ant”;
black; the head and thorax deeply pitted and corrugated; the abdomen
slightly constricted in the centre, smooth and shining. It comes from
Townsville, N.Q.: a second species, _T. melanocephalum_, taken in
Cairns, is also found in Samoa and the Tonga Islands.
* * * * *
The last sub-family, CAMPONOTINAE, is a large division well represented
in Australia; they live in more or less large communities, and with
a few exceptions have the pupae enclosed in cocoons. The base of the
abdomen forms a single node, and there is no constriction between the
second and third abdominal segments; the sting is wanting, and the anal
orifice is fringed with hairs. In the works of early entomologists a
number of our ants were described under the Genus _Formica_, but they
have been gradually identified and placed in their proper genera, until
we only have about half a dozen still remaining in this genus, probably
more on account of the difficulty of identifying them than because they
really belong here.
The Genus _Acantholepis_ is represented by four species all described
by Forel from specimens I have collected and sent him from N.S. Wales,
so that their range seems to be restricted. They are all small, reddish
brown, smooth, shining ants; _A. bosii_ was found under stones at
Cooma, N.S.W.
The Green Tree-ant, _Oecophylla smaragdina_, found in tropical Africa,
India, and New Guinea, is common in the tropical scrubs on the coast
of North Queensland. They live in large communities among the foliage
of the trees, in nests formed by webbing the leaves together into an
irregular mass varying in size from a cricket ball to a man’s head. The
material with which they make these nests is obtained by the workers,
by squeezing the pupae and using the secretion they discharge. The
winged female measures nearly ¾ of an inch in length, has a broad
thorax and large oval body; the worker is only about ¼ of an inch,
and slender in proportion, but for his size is the most pugnacious
creature in the insect world; if one damages a nest pushing through the
scrub, down tumble a swarm of green tree ants on one’s head and neck,
and wherever they drop they stick their jaws in and hang on, and each
one has to be picked off in detail. In these forests they destroy an
immense number of insects, catching the little bees as they come out
of their nests in the tree trunks, and dragging the small beetles off
the twigs by main force. I have often seen half a dozen hanging on to
the legs of a stout weevil, apparently trying to wear him out, for they
would remain for hours in the same position, and probably succeeded in
the end.
The great Genus _Camponotus_ contains about 400 described species from
all parts of the world, of which about 60 are recorded from Australia.
Most of them are found in open forest country, forming their nests in
the ground, under logs or stones, or near the butts of trees. Several
of our common species are known as “sugar ants,” as they come about at
night and invade the pantry and store room in search of sweets; but
they are omnivorous in their tastes, and will often come round the
camp fire at night, prowling about for the small moths that flutter
round, often rushing right into the edge of the ashes to capture a moth
when it falls with singed wings. _Camponotus intrepidus_ is one of our
largest species, varying from black to reddish brown in tint, and is
thickly clothed with short hair. They form nests in the open sandstone
country about Sydney, sometimes raising a little mound or producing
a fragile funnel-shaped structure above the opening leading into the
nest. The Sugar Ant, _Camponotus nigriceps_, is the commonest house
species; it forms large chambers under stones or logs in which they all
cluster together. The general colour is black, with all the abdomen
except the base dull yellow, but the variations of the yellow and black
are common; it measures to ¾ of an inch in length.
_Camponotus inflatus_ is the curious “honey ant” of Central Australia
figured and described by Lubbock in his “Bees, Ants, and Wasps.” The
naturalists on the Horn Exploring Expedition obtained a number of this
and other species, described by me in the Zoology of this Expedition.
The ordinary members of the “honey pot ants” are of the usual normal
form, but certain individuals of each nest of these species are crammed
with a honey secretion (probably obtained by the workers from aphids or
psyllids), until the abdomen swells out of all proportion to the rest
of the ant; the honey pot ants remain hanging about in the bottom of
the nests like a number of bottles of honey, incapable of leaving the
nest; the supply is probably used as food for the larvae. Spencer says
that the blacks dig up these nests and look upon the “honey pots” as
great luxuries. The honey is sweet with an acrid taste like the honey
of our native bees. They are apparently common in Central Australia;
Miss Ormerod sent me some from England which she had received from a
correspondent at Kalgoorlie; and recently Mr. Field of Tennant’s Creek
sent me a fine red species from the far north.
_Camponotus claripes_, a smaller pale coloured species, generally
makes its galleries at the base of a tree trunk, and has a very wide
range from Victoria to North Queensland. I found the cocoons of this
species in a nest at Howlong infested with full grown red velvet mites
(_Trombidiidae_), which occupied the whole space.
The Genus _Polyrhachis_ contains a number of black ants of fair size,
most of which build their nests in dead logs, and live in rather
large communities, but others form small nests by matting the foliage
of trees together; the latter are confined to Queensland, and are
generally smaller shining black forms. The true “wood ants” are more or
less covered with bright metallic pubescence and fine hairs, and with
the hind portion of the thorax and the node of the abdomen ornamented
with a pair of slender spines.
_Polyrhachis ornata_ is black, with the thorax and base of the spines
richly tinted with gold; it comes from Queensland. _P. ammon_, ranging
from Victoria to Queensland, is clothed with pale golden pubescence
lightest on the head and thickest on the abdomen. _P. semi-aurata_ has
both the head and thorax golden, with the abdomen smooth, black and
shining. _P. laevior_ is one of the smaller tree nesting forms, and is
smooth and shining without any metallic tints, and the thoracic and
abdominal spines are very small. _P. turneri_, also a northern form,
has the head golden, and large well developed spines.
Family 14. Solitary Ants.
MUTILLIDAE.
Though these interesting little creatures were once placed in the
Formicidae, and are still popularly known as “Solitary Ants” in Europe
and “Cow Ants” in America, they are now classified as the first family
of the fossorial wasps. Unlike the true ants, they are solitary in
their habits and probably all parasitic in other insects’ nests. Until
quite recently they were all placed in the Genus _Mutilla_, in which
about 1,000 species have been described from all parts of the world,
and about 130 from Australia; the earlier ones by Messrs. Westwood and
Smith, the later ones by Andre, who has had the great advantage of
obtaining a great many specimens from Mr. Gilbert Turner, who was able
to sex the species, add valuable notes about their habits, and give
the exact locality of the specimens collected. Turner, who was a most
careful observer, after some years of collecting was not positive where
they passed the earlier stages of their existence, but told me that he
believed that some of them were parasitic in the nests of ants. Several
of the European _Mutillidae_ are known to be parasitic in the nests
of bees: I have on several occasions dug the females of the smaller
species out of moss at the foot of tree trunks, and our two largest
species are generally found under stones in open chambers, while on hot
summer days both sexes of _Mutilla cordata_ and several other species
are found running up and down the tree trunks.
The males are furnished with two pairs of dark or semiopaque wings.
The head is rounded; the antennae curving round; with large eyes and
ocelli; the thorax broad, but showing the segmental divisions, and the
abdomen rather short and rounded, without any pedicle; the legs stout,
and spined on the middle pair. The whole insect is rugose and deeply
punctured or roughened, and more or less clothed with pubescence and
longer hairs. The females are wingless, with shorter curled antennae,
very different in size, sculpture, and even colouration to the males
of the same species; with the body more elongated and terminating
in a long powerful sting. Andre remarks upon the brilliant metallic
colouration of many of the Australian species, which is much more
pronounced than in those from other parts of the world. He also says
that they resemble the American species in the fact that they can be
divided into two groups by the configuration of the eyes.
Within the last few years specialists have subdivided the Genus
_Mutilla_ into a number of new genera; and Andre places nearly
all the Australian species in the Genus _Ephutermorpha_, but for
simplicity I retain the old name.
_Mutilla rugicollis_, described by Westwood many years ago, is
our largest species, measuring in the larger female over ¾ of an inch
in length. She is black, very deeply punctured, thickly clothed with
black and silvery white hairs, the latter forming white patches on the
hind portion of the head, sides and under-surface of the abdomen, and
has a dorsal row of five distinct spots down the back. The male is much
smaller, with somewhat similar but not so distinct white markings, and
is furnished with dark brown wings, which are hyaline, close to the
sides of the thorax.
_Mutilla quadrisignata_ has about the same measurements as the
female of the last species; with blackish hairy covering, except on
the under surface of the abdomen, and four dark, reddish brown, oval
spots forming a square on the dorsal surface. Both these species have
a wide range over Australia. _Mutilla ferruginata_ is a smaller
species with a similar deeply punctured surface; is of a uniform dull
rusty red colour, thickly clothed with darker brown hairs; the legs
and antennae deeper coloured than the body. _Mutilla cordata_ is
typical of the smaller active forms that frequent tree trunks; the male
is black with dark wings and slender abdomen, and measures about ⅓ of
an inch in length; in this case much larger than the female, which has
a rounded body with the centre of the dorsal surface occupied with a
large rounded golden blotch. I have found the best time to collect
these insects is in the hottest part of the day, when they are running
up and down the larger tree trunks; but they are very active, and drop
at the least alarm, so that it takes some practice to capture them.
Family 15. Flower Wasps.
THYNNIDAE.