Leptomyrmex
Sign in to saveLeptomyrmex, or spider ants, is a genus of ants and a distinctive member of the ant subfamily Dolichoderinae. Commonly known as "spider ants" for their long legs and spider-like movements, these orange and black ants are prominent residents of intact wet forest and sclerophyll habitats throughout their range. One extant species, Leptomyrmex relictus, is known from central Brazil; otherwise, the global distribution of this genus is restricted to eastern Australia, New Caledonia and New Guinea, as well as the nearby Indonesian islands of Aru and Seram.
Species
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassInsecta
- OrderHymenoptera
- FamilyFormicidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 491
- With media
- 18
- Family
- Formicidae
- Collections
- USNM, CSIRO
- Recorded in
- Australia, Indonesia
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Species groups
- Evolution
- References
- External links
Leptomyrmex, or spider ants, is a genus of ants and a distinctive member of the ant subfamily Dolichoderinae. Commonly known as "spider ants" for their long legs and spider-like movements, these orange and black ants are prominent residents of intact wet forest and sclerophyll habitats throughout their range. One extant species, Leptomyrmex relictus, is known from central Brazil; otherwise, the global distribution of this genus is restricted to eastern Australia, New Caledonia and New Guinea, as well as the nearby Indonesian islands of Aru and Seram.
Newly hatched Extatosoma tiaratum stick insects mimic these ants to avoid predation.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Leptomyrmex” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.