Army Ant
Eciton burchellii
A nomadic swarm nesting in its own bodies
Eciton burchellii is a nomadic raider of Central and South American rainforests. Marching columns sweep the forest floor nearly clean, guided by pheromone trails, and each night the colony camps in a bivouac — a living nest of interlocked worker bodies.
Key figures
- Size
- Soldiers about 12 mm; queens up to 25 mm
- Weapons
- Soldier mandibles longer than the head, hooked purely for tearing prey
- Life cycle
- Alternating nomadic marches and stationary spells of heavy egg-laying
- Habitat
- Lowland rainforest floor from Mexico to northern South America
- Diet
- Insects, spiders, scorpions and other arthropods flushed by the swarm
- Nest
- A temporary bivouac hung from logs, woven from linked worker bodies
Life cycle
Egg → Larva → Pupa → Adult
Ecological role
Its raids flush hiding prey, and antbirds follow the swarm to snatch the escapees — a classic commensal partnership.
Did you know
Hundreds of beetle, mite and fly species live only inside army-ant bivouacs, uninvited lodgers the colony mostly tolerates.
Range
Central and South American rainforests
Status
Common in intact rainforest
Anatomy
- Soldier mandibles — Sickle jaws longer than the head itself — too hooked to carry anything, built only to tear
- Petiole — A narrow waist joint lets the body twist freely, gripping prey and linking with nestmates
- Gaster — Its tip lays the trail pheromones that steer a raiding column of hundreds of thousands
- Antennae — With almost no vision, these feelers read the scent trail line by line as it shifts
- Eyes — Workers are nearly blind — a single crude facet each; the raid runs on smell, not sight
- Legs — Hooked claws stride fast and latch onto neighbours, turning bodies into nest architecture
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