Red Spider Ant - Leptomyrmex rufipes
Subfamily Dolichoderinae
This page contains pictures and information about Red Spider Ants that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 12mm
- Spider Ants are fast moving, with long legs and antenna, elongated head and thin body. When disturbed, they will have their gaster cocked up in the air.
- This Red Spider Ant species is common. They have orange-red head and thorax. The abdomen is black.
- We found Spider Ants easily in rainforest and semi-rainforest near Mt Coot-tha, Mt Nebo and Mt Glorious. They were usually running up and down on tree trunk or wandering on forest floor alone.
- In the above pictures, the ant was alone and working very hard moving a roll of leaf material.
- We found one in Mt Tamborine on late winter Sept 2007. It was a cool cloudy day and it was the only ant we found in the rainforest in that day. The ant was wandering alone.
- Reference:
- 1. Wildlife of Greater Brisbane - New edition, Published by Queensland Museum 2007, p171.
