14th February 2014
Small pugnacious ant (Anoplolepis steingroeveri)
Ants may be darker or less reddish than the illustration; shiny, almost black abdomens, with a full range of sizes from about 3 mm to 5.5 mm; nest in the ground and attack instantly if you touch them. Thump the ground and they swarm towards you. Afrikaans 'malmier' [='mad ant'] is appropriate. The smaller and most common of the two Anoplolepis species in the fynbos [the other is A. custodiens], it is a major distributor of large-seeded myrmecochores esp. Proteaceous genera such as Leucospermum, Mimetes, Paranomus, Diastella etc. The fallen seed releases a pheromone similar to the ants' alarm pheromone - note the two major ants in attack mode, with rear feet firmly planted in the soil so that they can leap backwards if danger threatens! More at www.ants.org.za