Golden-tailed spiny ant fact sheet | Field of Mars EEC

What are golden-tailed spiny ants and what do they look like?

Golden-tailed spiny ants are insects. Like all insects their bodies are divided into three parts – the head, thorax and abdomen. Spiny ants have thorn-like spines on their bodies. Golden-tailed spiny ants have one horizontal pair of spines on the thorax and two smaller ones behind. Australia has over 100 species of spiny ants.

Golden-tailed spiny ants are 6 to 8 millimetres in length which makes them medium to large sized ants. They have shiny, golden hairs on their black bodies with a thick glossy layer on the abdomen.

The scientific name for golden-tailed spiny ants is  Polyrhachis ammon.  The local Darug people of the Sydney basin refer to ants as mung.

Features of a golden-tailed spiny ant

Golden-tailed spiny ants have an eye-catching golden sheen on their abdomens.

Where do golden-tailed spiny ants live?

Golden-tailed spiny ants are commonly found in eucalypt forests along the east coast of Australia from Victoria to Northern Queensland. They live in nests called colonies. The colony is made up of one or more queens, female workers and males.

They are ground dwelling ants and can be seen under rocks, log piles and sand at the base of trees and shrubs.

Golden-tailed spiny ants make their nests under trees, shrubs, rocks and log piles.

What do golden-tailed spiny ants eat?

Golden tailed spiny ants are omnivorous meaning they eat both plant and animal matter. They eat nectar from wattle and eucalypt flowers dead and living insects, and water droplets on leaves provide them with water.

Golden-tailed spiny ants forage alone for pollen, nectar, insects and seeds.

What eats golden-tailed spiny ants?

Golden-tailed spiny ants are food for animals such as lizards, echidnas and birds.

Echidnas use their long sticky tongue to catch lots of ants to eat.

What adaptations do golden-tailed spiny ants have to their environment?

Golden-tailed spiny ants have a mutualistic relationship with other insects such as leaf hoppers. A mutualistic relationship is one where two different types of animals benefit from each other.

Leafhoppers feed on plant sap which is then excreted as a sugar-rich liquid called honeydew. Eucalyptus trees are a particular favourite for leafhoppers. Golden-tailed spiny ants tap the leafhopper with their antennae. The leafhopper responds by excreting a drop of honeydew. In return the leafhopper is protected from predatory insects as the ants gather around them collecting the honeydew.

Golden-tailed spiny ants have features they use for defence. When threatened they will curl their bodies upwards to display their spines. They also have a small hole at the tip of the abdomen is which can shoot out acid. This is called the gaster. It is a useful defence mechanism as they do not have a venomous stinger like many other ants.

The gold and black colouring of golden-tailed spiny ants is believed to deter predators as it is associated with defensive animals such as wasps.

The gold and black colouring is believed to deter predators.

How do golden-tailed spiny ants reproduce?

In ant colonies there are one or more queens, female workers and males whose only job is to mate with the queen. Queens are born with wings. Males have wings too.

Golden-tailed spiny ants fly into the air to mate. Life is a short-lived experience for males as they die soon after mating and become food for other animals such as birds and lizards.

Once the queen has found a suitable place to nest she loses her wings and never mates again.

Both male and female golden-tailed spiny ants have wings. Females have a bigger head and eyes than males.

What is the life cycle of golden-tailed spiny ants?

Ants experience a complete metamorphosis – physical change. There are 4 stages in the lifecycle of ants.

Egg

The ant life cycle starts as an egg when the queen ant lays tiny eggs in a nest.

Larvae

Larvae hatch from the eggs and shed their skin multiple times as they grow. The queen feeds them with her saliva.

Pupa

As the larvae get bigger they begin to develop into pupa. Some ant species wrap themselves in a silk cocoon for protection at this stage.

Adult

After a few weeks the pupae emerge as adult ants.

The timing of the four stages in the ant lifecycle varies from weeks to months depending on the species.

Golden-tailed spiny ant life cycle

Related fact sheets

More invertebrate fact sheets

• Invertebrate fact sheets – overview
• Insects fact sheet – broader insect body structure and features (ants are insects).
• Bush cockroaches fact sheet – other ground-dwelling insects in leaf litter and log piles.
• Crustaceans fact sheet – pill bugs and slaters that share ground and log habitats.

Habitats and ecosystems

• Leaf litter habitat fact sheet
• Eucalypt forest fact sheet
• Field of Mars Reserve fact sheet

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