The banded sugar ant was first described by German entomologist Wilhelm Ferdinand Erichson in 1842. Its common name refers to the ant’s liking for sugar and sweet food, as well as the distinctive orange-brown band that wraps around its gaster. The ant is polymorphic and relatively large, with two different castes of workers: major workers and minor workers. They prefer a mesic habitat, and are commonly found in forests and woodlands.
About Banded sugar ant in brief
The banded sugar ant was first described by German entomologist Wilhelm Ferdinand Erichson in 1842. Its common name refers to the ant’s liking for sugar and sweet food, as well as the distinctive orange-brown band that wraps around its gaster. The ant is polymorphic and relatively large, with two different castes of workers: major workers and minor workers. Mainly nocturnal, they prefer a mesic habitat, and are commonly found in forests and woodlands. They also occur in urban areas, where they are considered a household pest. This species is a competitor of the meat ant, and food robbery and nest-plugging is known to occur between these two ants. Banded sugar ants are preyed upon by other ants, echidnas, and birds. The eggs of this species were consumed by Indigenous Australians. Female ants are easily recognised by their head, thorax and abdomen. Males are completely different, with the black sides of the thorax legs are ferruginous, and the gaster is covered with tiny black dots. The species is commonly known as the sugar ant due to its attraction to sweet food and the orange- brown band that is present on its Gaster. It is a member of the Camponotus nigriceps species group, which also includes C. clarior, C.
dryandrae, eastwoodi, and C. loweryi. The holotype specimen is a queen collected from Tasmania, which is now housed in the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. The specific name is derived from the Latin word consobrina, meaning \”cousin\”. This is in reference to its similar appearance with the species C. herculeanus. The queen ants are the largest in the sugar ants, and come in a variety of colours, possibly due to ecological influences. For example, humidity, insolation and temperature may all affect the colour of an individual. The thorax is longer than its thorax, and its total width and width is slightly compressed. The head is black, the head is wider than its width and slightly compressed, and it is covered in tiny tiny Erectae. The black side of theThorax is covered by black dots and the totalwidth and width of its total length is slightly shorter than its total height and width. The female ants are completely separate from the males, and they have different size ranges. The male ants are smaller and more slender, while the soldiers are larger and carry a set of powerful mandibles. These two group of workers measure around 5 to 15 millimetres in length, while they are even larger than the queen ants.
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