Small Arid Honey-carrying Ant
Queen, Pronotum & Hairy Leg
Ellura
Toothed Spiny Ant
Profile
 
                      
Toothed Spiny Ant (Polyrhachis phryne)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera)
Family: Modern Ant (Ant: Formicidae Formicinae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Toothed Spiny Ant (Polyrhachis phryne)
This Photo:     🔍Dorsal🔎

Thank you Nigel Main for identifying and Kate Sandiford for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~7mm long.
We thought this species was P. patiens but Nigel said the pubescence on the gaster was gold & the surface of the body had a more sculptured texture. It seems the size of the petiolar spines isn't diagnostic. We wonder if it's a sub-species variation.

Copyright © 2020-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 27-Jan-2020
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.