Myrmecia gulosa

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Biology
Colonies are monogynous and consist of 992 ± 551 workers, mean ± SD (Dietemann et al. 2002).

There is no trophallaxis but workers lay trophic eggs (non viable yolk sacs), which constitute the main channel of food exchange in the colony. Queens regularly walk through the nest chambers but they are not aggressive toward workers (Dietemann et al. 2005a). Regulation of worker reproduction is based on Cuticular Hydrocarbons (Dietemann et al. 2003) together with worker policing (Dietemann et al. 2005b).

Castes
Worker size varies over a wide range (14 – 23 mm), exhibiting a bimodal distribution. M. gulosa queens are only slightly bigger than large workers, but have many more ovarioles (44 compared to 8–14 in workers; Dietemann et al. 2002).

Nomenclature

 *  gulosa. Formica gulosa Fabricius, 1775: 395 (w.) AUSTRALIA. Smith, 1858b: 143 (m.); Mayr, 1876: 95 (q.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1971d: 246 (l.); Imai, Crozier & Taylor, 1977: 345 (k.). Combination in Myrmecia: Fabricius, 1804: 424. Senior synonym of obscurior: Clark, 1951: 49. See also: Ogata, 1991a: 358.
 * obscurior. Myrmecia gulosa var. obscurior Forel, 1922: 87 (w.) AUSTRALIA. Junior synonym of gulosa: Clark, 1951: 49.