Green Tree Ant

You’ll spot these industrious little creatures dotted around Northern Australia, spread from the Kimberley region in Western Australia through to Gladstone in Queensland everywhere except the highlands. These little guys are the high-rise engineers of the ant world.  You’re most likely to spot their balloon shaped nests amongst the foliage of trees and shrubs.

They are incredible engineers. They create their nesting chambers by hundreds of worker ants pulling leaves together. Once in position another group of ants comes out carrying the young grub like larvae which produces the silk that binds it all together. The whole process can take several hours, the leaf holders waiting patiently until the leaves are stitched together.

 

Each colony has a single queen but can cover several nests and several trees, where each nest has a different purpose and can exceed over half a million individuals.

The Green Ant Dance

They are social and highly aggressive. The ants will often bite (not sting) but they do inject an acid into the bite which can be quite painful. One is not too bad but disturb a nest and hundreds will fall out in a green shower. This leads to what we call ‘The Green Ant’ dance with the unlucky victim running around flapping their arms searching for the nearest swimming pool to dive into.

They’re useful to have around

Despite this, they can be beneficial to have around.  They are insectivores, hunting insects that are potentially harmful to plants, and have been used a biological pest control in China and S.E. Asia. The oldest written record of the use of these ants to control pests is their use in China in 304 A.D. to control pests in citrus. Research has shown that Fruit trees harbouring weaver ants produce higher quality fruits, show less leaf damage by herbivores, and require fewer applications of synthetic pesticides. Additionally, green ants, and white ants aren’t friends. So, if you have a healthy green ant colony in your garden, it may be wise to leave them alone.

The caterpillars of many species of butterflies are tended by Green Tree Ants. The flattened, armoured caterpillars of the Moth Butterfly live only inside Green Tree Ant nests where they feed on ant eggs, larvae and pupae. Adult Moth Butterflies emerge inside the nest and are attacked by the ants. They are covered with loose scales that fall out when they are grabbed by the ants. In this way the butterflies can escape the nest without being damaged.

Food and medicine source

Weaver ants are a good source of food (especially the ant larvae) as they are edible for humans and high in protein and fatty acids. They have a very strong citrus taste.  In Australia, they are used both as a food source and a medicine. The nests are boiled in water forming a tea, which when drunk (after filtering) is used to treat colds etc.

In North-eastern Thailand the price of weaver ant larvae is twice the price of good-quality beef and in a single Thai province, ant larva worth US$620,000 are harvested every year.

The Adelaide Hills Distillery has is now producing Green Ant Gin with the ants harvested by the Motlop family of the Larrakia people. And there are a few people around who have a mean green ant Mojito recipe.

So, if you see these hard-working little guys around maybe give them a little wave to say thanks for being so cool!