Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Formicidae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Hymenoptera Subfamily Formicinae | |
Similar Myrmecocystus mexicanus, Myrmecocystus mimicus, Myrmecocystus, Novomessor cockerelli, Pogonomyrmex californicus | ||
Myrmecocystus testaceus is a species of ant. Found throughout southern United States, this species of ant is usually nocturnal, and nests in sand.
They can spray formic acid out of their gaster to melt skin tissue. instead of stinging and swarming, they normally stretch out the prey by the legs until it splits or does from bites and formic acid.
Myrmecocystus testaceus coming out just after dark blackstar canyon ca 3 23 2013
References
Myrmecocystus testaceus Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA