6 Biggest Ants In The World

Ants are believed to have been evolved from wasp-like insects during the Cretaceous period, approximately 140 million years ago. These small insects are classified under the Formicidae family.

Ants have the capability to survive in a wide range of habitats, and they are believed to form 15-25% of the total terrestrial animal biomass. Ants can thrive in different habitats due to their ability to modify the environment they are in and their ability to defend themselves.

Social Behavior

Ants are found in every part of the world except for Antarctica. They are enthusiastically social insects and live in structured nest communities that may be located underground, in ground-level mounds, or in trees.

Ant communities are headed by a queen or queens, whose function in life is to lay thousands of eggs that will ensure the survival of the colony. The ants seen by humans are actually wingless females that never reproduce but instead forage for food, care for the queen’s offspring, work on the nest and protect the community.

For this reason, ants are classified as eusocial insects as they are capable of dividing labor in their different colonies and also solve complex problems.

Fun Fact

From the late 1950s through the late 1970s, ant farms were popular educational children’s toys in the United States. Some later commercial versions use transparent gel instead of soil, allowing greater visibility at the cost of stressing the ants with unnatural light.

Here are some of the biggest ants in the world:

6. Carpenter Ants

Size: 0.25 to 1 inch
Native: Forested areas and wooden parts of homes
Scientific Name: Camponotus

Carpenter ants, vary in size and color but are usually large (1/4-1/2 inch) and blackish. Occasionally, swarms of winged carpenter ant reproductives will emerge inside a home.

Carpenter ant swarms usually occur in the spring and are a sure sign that a colony is nesting somewhere inside the structure. Carpenter ants nest in both moist and dry wood, but prefer wood which is moist.

Consequently, the nests are more likely to be found in wood dampened by water leaks, such as around sinks, bathtubs, poorly sealed windows/ door frames, roof leaks and poorly flashed chimneys.

The best way to control carpenter ants is to find and destroy the nests. This is often easier said than done. Recent studies have shown that carpenter ants follow distinct scent trails between the satellite colonies and the parent nest. Carpenter ants also rely on scent trails to recruit their nestmates to food. 

Did You Know?

To get rid of the carpenter ants, it is best to hire a pest management professional (pest control technician) to eliminate nests.

5. Bullet Ants

Size: 1.2 inch
Native: Lowland rainforests from Nicaragua
Scientific Name: Paraponera clavata

This long, black ant is distinct from other ants in Central America because it is enormous, second only to the Greater Giant Hunting Ant (Dinoponera gigantea). The bullet ant is hairier than fellow hunting ants.

The colony burrows a nest with different entrances on the ground between tree buttresses. Some arboreal nests have also been discovered. Workers guard the nest against vertebrates and other insects, including other bullet ants.

The bullet ant has one of the most painful insect stings or bites that you can encounter in central America. Sometimes they fall from higher tree branches and attack when they encounter a large, frightening creature, such as a human.

First the bullet ant bites; once the mandibles are securely squeezing the victim, the ant turns its abdomen to sting at the same time. While this may cause some pain and swelling, the venom does not cause sickness or death, and bullet ants are not encountered in droves and swarms like army ants.

Did You Know?

If disturbed, the ants’ first defense is to release a stinky warning scent. If the threat persist, ants will bite and latch on with their mandibles prior to stinging. 

4. Giant Bull Ants

Size: 0.3 to 1.5 inch
Native: Throughout Australia
Scientific Name: Myrmecia

Bull ants are large, alert ants that can grow up to 40 mm They have characteristic large eyes and long, slender mandibles and a potent venom-loaded sting. Many species of bull ants have bright red or orange colours on the head or abdomen.

There are about 90 species of bull ants in Australia with diverse behaviours and life cycles. Nine bull ant species have been recorded in Sydney, but there may be more as yet undiscovered. Some of the smaller species are known as jumper ants after their habit of aggressively jumping toward intruders.

Talking about their life cycle history, several species have no colony workers. Instead, a raiding queen invades the nest of another species, kills the resident queen and takes over the colony.

Did You Know?

They can be extremely aggressive when defending their nests, and have excellent eyesight enabling them to locate intruders. Many people who are stung believe the large mandibles inflict the pain; however, it is a sting located in the abdomen that causes this severe discomfort.

3. Dinoponera Ant

Size: Over 1.5 inches
Native: South America
Scientific Name: Dinoponera

Commonly called tocandiras or giant Amazonian ants, the Dinoponera ants are 1.5 inches in length. Dinoponera don’t follow a typical queen caste system.

Instead, the hive has several male ants, known as gamergate ants, who can fertilize eggs. These mated workers fight for dominance in their colonies and form individual groups of one to five ants that have their own hierarchy independent of the hive.

Gamergate ants perform antennal boxing, biting, blocking, and other behaviors, such as gaster rubbing, to establish supremacy.

Though no ant’s sting comes close to the crippling pain of the bullet ant, Dinoponera also have a powerful venom they can deliver with a sting. The venom of the Dinoponera australis species is comparable to that of vespine wasps.

Did You Know?

For subduing large live prey and defense, these ants possess a sting that has been known to cause severe pain lasting up to 48 hours. Lymphadenopathy, edema, tachycardia and fresh blood appearing in human victim feces are common symptoms.

2. Titanomyrma Lubei

Size: Over 2 inches
Native: Unknown
Scientific Name: Titanomyrma lubei

The largest ant species ever recorded was discovered in fossilized remains in Wyoming. The insect, named Titanomyrma lubei for its incredible length, was over 2 inches long and comparable in size to a modern hummingbird.

Researchers also noted that, unlike the modern queen driver ant, Titanomyrma was big all over and lacked the swollen abdomen characteristic of driver ants.

These giant bugs may have crossed an Arctic land bridge between Europe and North America during a particularly warm period in Earth’s history. Though fossils of loose giant ant wings have been found before in the United States, this is the first known full-body specimen.

Did You Know?

These giant bugs existed almost 50 million years ago and it comes as a surprise as to how these giant ants ended up on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean!

1. Driver Ants

Size: Upto 2.4 inches
Native: Central and East Africa
Scientific Name: Dorylus wilverthi

Also known as Safari ants or Saifu, the driver ants are primarily found in central and east Africa and also in parts of tropical Asia. The size of these ants, particularly female ants, ranges to 2 inches in length.

Driver ants are not specialized predators of other species of ant but are more generalistic with a diet consisting of a diversity of arthropods. The colonies of these ants are huge compared to other army ants and can contain over 20 million individuals.

Driver ant queens are the largest living ants known, with their immense bodies measuring between 40 – 63 millimeters (1.5 – 2.4 inches) in total body length depending on their physiological condition.

Did You Know?

The presence of these ants is beneficial to certain human communities, such as the Maasai, as they perform a pest prevention service in farming communities, consuming the majority of other crop-pests, from insects to large rats!