Myrmecia gratiosa

These ants are visual predators. Typical encounters with even a solitary forager shows that they are a formidable and aggressive species.

Identification
Myrmecia desertorum, Myrmecia fuscipes, Myrmecia gratiosa, Myrmecia nigriceps and Myrmecia vindex are all large to very large, reddish ants with red, brown or black heads and a black gaster.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 * . Myrmecia gratiosa Clark, 1951: 66, fig. 44 (w.) AUSTRALIA (Western Australia).
 * Type-material: holotype worker, paratype workers (number not stated).
 * Type-localities: holotype + paratypes Australia: Western Australia, Bendering (C.A. Gardner), Western Australia, Emu Rock (F. Cadd).
 * [Note: original description gives no indication which series contains the holotype, but Taylor & Brown, 1985: 11, cite Bendering.]
 * Type-depository: ANIC.
 * Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1971d: 250 (l.).
 * Status as species: Taylor & Brown, 1985: 11; Taylor, 1987a: 43; Ogata, 1991a: 358; Ogata & Taylor, 1991: 1637 (in key); Bolton, 1995b: 271; Heterick, 2009: 121.
 * Distribution: Australia.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Heterick B. E. 2009. A guide to the ants of south-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 76: 1-206.
 * Taylor R. W. 1987. A checklist of the ants of Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) Division of Entomology Report 41: 1-92.