#hagiomyrma

[ljsbugblog]

Unknown Spiny Ant (subgenus Hagiomyrma), April ' 24.

[drhoz]

#2113 - Polyrhachis (Subg. Hagiomyrma) sp.

A THIRD species of ant from Cooma, with a shiny gold butt. This one was from the valleyside behind my friends place, however, rather than the top of Nannygoat Hill. Given how far south I was, probably P. ammon or P. semiaurata - they're most diverse in Central Queensland.

Hagiomyrma is almost exclusively Australian subgenus of Spiny Ant - only a single species is endemic to outside this continent. Three other species were previously thought to be New Guinea only, but have since been found here as well. As for the genus as a whole, there are almost 800 described species of Polyrhachis, and a single known fossil species from the Miocene of Greece.

Most Hagiomyrma species are ground nesters, living in Eucalyptus woodland. Elsewhere, spiny ants may live arboreally in carton and silk nests, in cavities in plants, underneath rocks and other cover, or in subterranean nests. Polyrhachis sokolova, from Australia and New Guinea, lives in mangrove swamps and has to deal with high tides that completely submerge the nest twice a day. Happily the nests, inside mangrove trunks and branchs, have air pockets. Some species, such as Polyrachis lemalidens, are social parastes. In P. lemalidens the queen infiltrates a Camponotus nest, drinks the blood of the resident queen and decapitates her.