I realised when looking through my observations that there was one fairly common species found on our property that I had not recorded and I had been carefully avoiding getting too close to in the past few days.
Jumping Jack Ants Myrmecia nigrecincta have a nest not far from our front door in a garden
where I have been working. This species is one of the smaller Bulldog Ants of which there are some 90 or so species in Australia, but what they lack in size they make up with aggressiveness. If the nest is disturbed they will swarm out and attack any intruder delivering extremely painful stings, which for a small proportion people provoke an allergic reaction that for a few has proved fatal.
This species is found in woodlands, open forests and rainforest along the east coast of Australia from north Queensland to Victoria.
