Monomorium antarcticum
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| Monomorium antarcticum | ||||||||||||||
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| Monomorium antarcticum (F. Smith, 1858) |
Monomorium antarcticum is an ant of the family Formicidae, endemic to New Zealand. It is found in a wide variety of habitats, at low and high altitudes. It is probably the most common and ubiquitous ant species in New Zealand.
Monomorium antarcticum is highly variable in size, which might indicate a complex of species. Length of the worker ant is about 3 to 5 mm. They have a 12 segmented antenna including a three segmented club. Coloration is highly variable (but uniform within a colony) — orange, yellowish brown, dark brown, black, but in all colour forms, apart from black, the antennae and legs are a different shade from the body.
Nests can be small or highly populous with thousands of workers. Construction can be complex with galleries at different levels, particularly in soil under stones.
For food small seeds may be harvested, workers foraging haphazardly without pheromone trails, as well as "milking" homopterans.
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