Asian weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina)

Latin Name	Observation Date	Location
Oecophylla smaragdina	May 30, 2026	Purulia, Natore, Bangladesh

One of nature's amazing engineers is the Asian weaver ants. Their work style and skills are so perfect that anyone who sees them is amazed. They are known to the general public as 'weaver ants', but many also call them 'green ants' or 'red ants' because of their bright color. In Latin, their name means 'leaf house', which is a perfect match for their unique lifestyle.

​Scientific name:
The scientific name of this ant is Oecophylla smaragdina. The scientist Fabricius was the first to name this species in 1775. The Latin word 'smaragdina' associated with their name means emerald, which is basically consistent with the light greenish-brown color of the queen of their colony.
​Family and Genus
They are members of the Arthropoda phylum and Insecta class of the animal kingdom. Their order is Hymenoptera and they belong to the Formicidae family. Their genus or genus is Oecophylla. As social insects, they are the most organized in the world and their social system and communication system are very complex and advanced.

​Size and physical structure:
Their physical size varies according to the type of work they do in the weaver ant colony. Ordinary worker ants are usually 5 to 7 millimeters long, and larger workers can be 8 to 10 millimeters long. Their bodies are bright orange or reddish in color, which helps them to be identified from a distance. The queen of the colony is usually the largest and can be 20 to 25 millimeters long. Their legs are quite long and strong and their jaws are quite sharp, which are used to pull leaves while building their nests.

​Habitat and habitat:
This species of ants mainly lives in the warm and humid climates of tropical Asia and Australia. They are widely distributed from India, Bangladesh, Indonesia to northern Australia. They mainly build their nests on the leaves of trees. A large colony can contain several hundred thousand ants, who can expand their nests to 12 or more trees in addition to one tree for their work.

​Food:
Weaver ants are mainly predatory insects. They hunt and eat various types of insects, spiders and other invertebrates. In addition, they protect aphids or scale insects living on the leaves of trees and collect the sweet juice or honeydew secreted from their bodies as food. If necessary, they also drag the bodies of dead lizards or other large animals to their homes in groups.

​Reproduction:
Their nest-building scene is a unique work of nature. They use their larvae or young to build their nests by sewing the edges of leaves in a special way. When worker ants pick up the larvae and gently rub them on the leaves, the larvae secrete a kind of sticky silk, which permanently binds the edges of the leaves. A colony usually has a queen, from whose eggs the new generation of the entire colony is created.

​Benefits:
Weaver ants are very useful in agriculture. In many countries, they act as natural protectors to control harmful insects of important crops such as mango, lemon, cashew, coconut or coffee. Due to their aggressive nature, they do not allow any other harmful insects to infest the gardens. In addition, their larvae and pupae are also used as nutritious food in many Asian countries.

​Harmfulness:
They do not cause any major harm to humans, but they are very aggressive. If a person or large animal accidentally approaches their nest, they attack in swarms. Their bites are quite painful and they release a burning acid-like chemical at the site of the bite. Therefore, working in their presence in the garden or fruit trees can sometimes be quite difficult.

I hope you enjoy this information.

I learned about them from various sites including iNaturalist, Wikipedia and Google.

(All posts are written in Bengali and translated into English using Google Translate.)
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Camera Used	Samsung SM-G973F
F-Stop	F2.4
ISO speed	ISO
Focal length	26mm
Flash	No
Editing app	Mix
Photography	(Oecophylla smaragdina)
Photographer	@mshbd
Location	Purulia, Natore, Bangladesh

Link to original community
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/370727487

Latitude	Longitude	Map Link
24.3366	89.1117	https://www.openstreetmap.org/?#map=12/24.3366/89.1117