Myrmecia fulvipes

Myrmecia fulvipes
Classification
Subfamily: Myrmeciinae
Family: Formicidae
Order: Hymenoptera
Common name: Bull ant

A diurnally active bull ant, which I have been seeing frequently in the Northern suburbs of Sydney. Nests are all along the muddy paths beside the sidewalks. The nests are polydomous just like most species of this genus.

This species belong to to the mandibularis species complex. Characters that define this are:
a. Lack of an occipital carina.
b. Clearly visible labrum from facial view; the anterior margin of the clypeus not strongly extended.
c. A pectinate tibial spur on the hind leg.
d. Uniformly coloured head; subapical portion of the mandible has a ventral tooth.
e. Sub basal portion of the mandible with teeth very small; apical teeth are the longest.
f. Clypeal hairs directed towards the mandible and are as long as half the mandible length

Within the mandibularis species complex, these ants have the following features:
a. Reddish brown legs
b. Apical portion of the gaster blackish
And hence qualify as fulvipes

Collected:
Talavera Road, Marsfield, Sydney, NSW, Australia. (June, 2006)