Arid Honey-carrying Ant
Major Worker, Petiole Node
Ellura
Arid Honey-carrying Ant
Major Worker, Head
 
                      
Arid Honey-carrying Ant (Melophorus sp ES01)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera)
Family: Modern Ant (Ant: Formicidae Formicinae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Arid Honey-carrying Ant (Melophorus sp ES01)
This Photo:     Major Worker, Mandibles
Other name: Furnace Ant

Thank you Kate Sandiford for identifying and Peter Slingsby & Emmett Collins-Sussman for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~6mm long.
Looks very much like Big-headed Ants, but have only one petiole node putting it in a different sub-family.
Kate also said this was a Major Worker.
On our iNat post we mentioned "No stinger nor anal hairs.". Emmett responded with "The anal hairs you're thinking of are probably the hairs around the acidopore. All formicines have an acidopore, and hairs around the acidopore are common but not always present. Acidopore"

Copyright © 2018-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 09-Dec-2018
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.