Green weaver ant (Oecophylla smaragdina)

Green weaver ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) is an arboreal ant species belonging to the family Formicidae. Characterized by a blend of brown, red, and green coloration, these ants live in large, complex social colonies. They are highly skilled at weaving leaves together to construct nests and play a vital role in the canopy ecosystems of humid tropical regions.

Worker ants are generally orange in color and measure 5–7 mm in length; their primary role is to care for the larvae. Major workers, which are 8–10 mm long, possess long, strong legs and large mandibles; they are responsible for foraging, as well as building and expanding the nest. The queen measures 20–25 mm and is typically greenish-brown.





Nests are constructed by workers who weave leaves together, securing them with silk produced by the larvae. The ants line up along the edges of green leaves, pulling adjacent leaves toward one another. Other workers, carrying larvae in their mouths, touch the tip of each larva’s abdomen to the leaf edges in an alternating fashion, creating a fine silken thread that binds the leaves together.

O. smaragdina feeds on beetles, flies, and various Hymenoptera. They possess a painful bite and secrete chemicals that irritate their prey. These ants establish colonies on a variety of trees, including banana, coconut, oil palm, rubber, cacao, teak, jackfruit, mango, Indonesian bay leaf, stink bean, jengkol, duku, rambutan, rose apple, and ambarella.

In Thailand and the Philippines, the larvae and pupae are used as food ingredients. In India, adult ants are used in traditional medicine to treat rheumatism, while their oil is employed to address gastric infections and as an aphrodisiac. These ant colonies also serve as a natural form of pest control for crops such as cowpea, cashew, citrus, mango, coconut, cacao, and coffee.

TAXON

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Order: Hymenoptera
Suborder: Apocrita
Infraorder: Aculeata
Superfamily: Formicoidea
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Oecophyllini
Genus: Oecophylla Smith F. (1860)
Species: Oecophylla smaragdina Fabricius (1775)

SYNONYMS

Formica smaragdina Fabricius (1775)

VERNACULAR NAME

Australia: Green tree ant
Catalan: Formiga Teixidora Asiàtica
Chinese (simplified): 翠绿织叶蚁 - 黄猄蚁
Chinese (traditional): 黃猄蟻
Czech: Mravenec krejčík
Danish: Smaragdvævermyre
Dutch: Groene wevermier
English: Asian weaver ant, Green weaver ant, Weaver ant, Green ant, Green tree ant, Orange gaster, Orange weaver ant
French: Fourmi tisserande
German: Asiatische Weberameise
Guangdong: 黃猄蟻
Gujarati: ઘિમેલ - લાલ મંકોડો
Hong Kong: 黃猄蟻
Indonesian: Semut penenun, Rangrang, Semut kroto
Italian: Formica tessitrice
Japanese: ツムギアリ
Java: Nyangkrang, Kroto
Kannada: ಕೆಂಜಿಗ
Karnataka: ಕೆಂಜಿಗ
Korean: 푸른베짜기개미
Macao: 黃猄蟻
Malaysia: Kerengga
Russian: Азиатский муравей-портной
Sinhala: දිඹියා
Taiwan: 黃猄蟻
Thai: มดแดง
Tulu: ತಾಬುರು

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
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