Among the biggest ants
At up to two and a half centimetres, it is one of the largest ants in the world.
The backyard · Bees, wasps and ants
Bull ant
Myrmecia
A very large, red-brown and black ant with long straight jaws and big eyes.
- Size
- Up to 2.5cm long
- Look for it
- October to December, then January to March
- Where
- Bushland, parks and gardens, in nests in the ground, mostly in the south and east
Marches after you, jaws open. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Bull ant
Good to know
Six things about the bull ant
It watches you
Unlike most ants it has excellent eyesight, and will turn to follow you from a metre away.
It stings as well as bites
It grips with its jaws, then curls its body round and stings from the tail. It hurts a great deal.
A living fossil
Bull ants are much like the earliest ants, and are found only in Australia.
It hunts alone
Workers go out singly, without scent trails, and find their way home by sight.
Some can jump
The smaller kinds, called jack jumpers, leap several centimetres at a time.
The real thing
Photos of the bull ant
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Look for a low mound of earth and gravel with a hole in the top, and big ants standing guard. Watch from a few steps back.
How to help
Bull ants defend their nest, so do not stand on it. Away from the nest they are busy hunting and will ignore you.
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