Namib Desert dune ant
The Namib Desert dune ant is a big ant with neat black and white stripes on its hairy back end. It lives on the hot sand dunes of one of the driest deserts in the world. It walks on long legs, like little stilts, to stay away from the burning sand.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its long legs keep its body about 5 millimetres above the sand, where the air can be up to 15 degrees cooler.
At midday in summer the desert sand can get as hot as 60 degrees.
Its nest is a set of tunnels and rooms 10 to 40 centimetres deep among plant roots.
Each colony has just one queen.
It carries leaves and other plant bits home, which helps recycle plants in the desert.
Most asked questions about Namib Desert dune ant
?Where does the Namib Desert dune ant live?
On the sand dunes of the Namib Desert in southern Africa.
?How does the Namib Desert dune ant survive the heat?
It walks high on long legs, so its body stays in cooler air above the hot sand.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Camponotus detritus
- Group
- Ants
- Family
- Formicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Formicidae
- Lives on
- Africa
Where the facts come from
- Namib Desert dune ant (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Roger Culos. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Black garden ant
Bullet ant
Pharaoh ant
Argentine ant
Red imported fire ant
Yellow crazy ant
The bordered straw
Crackling forest grasshopper
Fatal metalmark
Chequered blue
Lyside sulphur
Bright babul blue