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Asian Weaver Ant (queen)
Oecophylla smaragdina
15.4556, 119.92
Field Notes
Description:
Formicidae; Formicinae; Oecophylla; Oecophylla smaragdina (Fabricius, 1775). The Asian Weaver Ant shown here is a new queen which has just left her colony to venture out and start a new colony of her own. The whole proceedure is simply and clearly laid out in http://www.oisat.org/control_methods/natural_enemies/predators/weaver_a….
Habitat:
I spotted this O. smaragdina on St. Vincent plum (Gliricidia sepium) locally called Kakawate near an old farmhouse in the middle of some rice fields. I am pretty sure that this tree has nothing to do with the life cycle of this species of ant. I can only assume that this new queen is resting and probably looking for a mate. From everything I have read concerning the life of Asian Weaver Ants, I do not get the impression that the new queen travels far to establish her own colony. So I can only surmise that she looks for a mate (or mates) within a short distance of her original colony. In other words, she does not leave her habitat, but simply moves to a different part of the same habitat. So the area around the farmhouse i.e. the trees and rice fields are her habitat. When she establishes her new colony it will surely consist of a number of nests in citrus trees. These trees are plentiful here and they seem to be a favourite of Weaver Ants, but they do build their nests and colonies in other trees.
Notes:
Plant identification http://www.stuartxchange.org/Kakawati
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