Mediterranean acrobat ant

The Mediterranean acrobat ant has a reddish head and a black body. Its back end is shaped like a pointy heart. When it feels in danger, it lifts that pointy tail high up in the air like an acrobat.

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Fun facts
When it lifts its tail, it lets out a tiny drop of smell. That smell calls the whole nest to come and help.
It builds its nest in old stumps, fallen logs and dead branches, using chewed wood and soil.
It hunts the caterpillars of a moth that badly damages pine trees around the Mediterranean.
It carries live aphids into oak galls, maybe to keep them through the winter.
Most asked questions about Mediterranean acrobat ant
?Why is it called an acrobat ant?
Because it raises its pointy back end high in the air when it feels attacked.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Crematogaster scutellaris
- Named by
- Olivier, 1792
- Group
- Ants
- Family
- Formicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Formicidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa
Where the facts come from
- Crematogaster scutellaris (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 Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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.
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