Vertical Gaster Black Ant
Dorsal
Vertical Gaster Black Ant
Anterior
| Vertical Gaster Black Ant Dorsal | | Vertical Gaster Black Ant Anterior | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera) | ||||
| Family: | Modern Ant (Ant: Formicidae Formicinae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Vertical Gaster Black Ant (Camponotus cinereus ssp amperei) | ||||
| This Photo: | Profile | ||||
| Other name: | Mallee Black Sugar Ant | ||||
Thank you Kate Sandiford for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere These ants walk around with their backside, or gaster, stuck up in the air. Very unique behaviour. There's an interesting discussion on iNaturalist about this (and ant "hibernating" stategies) indicating the ants might be lifting their gaster off hot ground. We will monitor ours to see if we can learn more. At this stage we don't believe it's heat related as their gaster is in the air both in full sun & in the shade (from memory) | |||||
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