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Oecophylla Smaragdina

Oecophylla smaragdina (common names include Asian weaver ant, weaver ant, green ant, green tree ant, semut rangrang, semut kerangga, and orange gaster) is a species of arboreal ant found in tropical Asia and Australia. Weaver ants live in trees (they are obligately arboreal) and are known for their unique nest-building behavior where workers construct nests by weaving together leaves using larval silk. Weaver ants prey on small insects and supplement their diet with carbohydrate-rich honeydew excreted by small insects (Hemiptera). Weaver ant workers exhibit a clear bimodal size distribution, with almost no overlap between the size of the minor and major workers. Workers and major workers are mostly coloured orange. The major workers are approximately 8-10 mm (0.31-0.39 in) in length and the minors are approximately half the length of the majors. Major workers forage, defend, maintain, and expand the colony whereas minor workers tend to stay within the nests where they care for the brood and 'milk' scale insects in or close to the nests. Because they prey on insects harmful to their host trees, weaver ants are sometimes used by indigenous farmers, particularly in Southeast Asia, as natural biocontrol agents against agricultural pests. Although weaver ants lack a functional sting they can inflict painful bites and often spray formic acid directly at the bite wound resulting in intense discomfort. The Asian weaver ant workers have brought leaves to block the gap of the entrance before the rains come at Tehatta, West Bengal; India on 16/08/2023. (Photo by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto)

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