Dinomyrmex gigas

Dinomyrmex gigas is perhaps the best known ant within its range. It roams the ground surface during the day but ascends to forage in the canopy principally at night (Orr & Charles 1994; Pfeiffer & Linsenmair 2000); this accords with Heterick & Kitching (2022) who encountered this species in leaf litter but not in the otherwise rich canopy knockdown samples, which were all collected during the day.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Indo-Australian Region: Borneo, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore. Oriental Region: Thailand.

Biology
Monogynous (i.e. one queen) colonies. Established colonies have tens of thousands of workers distributed in 8-14 underground nests that are 10-20 meters apart (i.e. polydomy) (Pfeiffer & Linsenmair 1998, 2000).

Diet is mostly honeydew as well as insect prey, bird droppings and other excrements (Pfeiffer & Linsenmair 2007).

Castes
One large colony studied in Kinabalu (Sabah) consisted of 87.3% workers or "minors" (mean weight was 135mg) and 12.7% soldiers or "majors" (mean weight 372mg) (Pfeiffer & Linsenmaier 2000).



Nomenclature

 *  gigas. Formica gigas Latreille, 1802c: 105, pl. 2, fig. 6 (s.) "Grandes-Indes". Smith, F. 1858b: 14 (w.q.m.). Combination in Camponotus: Mayr, 1862: 669; in Dinomyrmex: Ashmead, 1905b: 384; in C. (Myrmogigas): Forel, 1912i: 91; in C. (Dinomyrmex): Forel, 1914a: 268. Combination in Dinomyrmex: Ward, et al., 2016: 350. See also: Bingham, 1903: 369. Current subspecies: nominal plus borneensis.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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