Camponotus suffusus

Golden-tailed sugar ant at Hackett, ACT

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Identification history

Camponotus suffusus	5 Oct 2018	JonLewis
Camponotus suffusus	5 Oct 2018	MichaelMulvaney
Dolichoderus scabridus	2 May 2018	jb2602

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5 comments

KimPullen wrote:

4 May 2018

There are 2 species here. Images 1 and 2 are a Camponotus, probably C. suffusus. Images 3-5 look like the 'meat ant', Iridomyrmex purpureus.

MichaelMulvaney wrote:

6 Oct 2018

Image of different ant removed

silverseastarsong wrote:

18 Dec 2018

This looks like Camponotus aeneopilosus to me. Note the black legs. I may be wrong but I think leg colour is consistent in these two species.

JonLewis wrote:

18 Dec 2018

Hi Silversea, good comment about the leg colour. Sometimes the legs of Camponotus suffusus are distinctly red, while other times quite dark (though still reddish under magnification). In these photos, although the leg colour is quite dark, you can tell it is suffusus because of the head and body shape, and the fuzzy grey areas on the body, which are caused by the ant being covered by quite dense hairs. Cheers, Jon

silverseastarsong wrote:

19 Dec 2018

Thanks Jon for iterating the more technical reasons for the ID. I could not tell that there were differences in these traits from the genus key. As with most regions the dark Camponotus tend to be more complex than they seem.

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