Very large red and black ant with red stripe on gaster - Atta texana - BugGuide.Net

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Ants (Formicoidea) » Ants (Formicidae) » Myrmicinae » Attini » Fungus Growing Ants (Attina) » Leaf-cutting Ants (Atta) » Texas Leaf-cutting Ant (Atta texana)

Photo#518760

Copyright © 2011 clayverde

Very large red and black ant with red stripe on gaster - Atta texana

Ft. Polk Parish, Louisiana, USA
May 22, 2011
Size: 1 inch

My husband found this ant (?) while training in Ft. Polk, LA on a Sunday morning. He said it was quite large, approximately an inch long. (and he knows bugs - he has been all over South America with bullet ants, banana spiders, etc. so he is not prone to exaggeration when it comes to bugs!) I tried to figure out what it was and kept coming up with the Velvet ant, but this ant clearly isn't hairy the way those ants seem to be. I thought maybe it was another type of insect that mimics an ant or something. Any help you can give us in identifying the bug would be greatly appreciated!!

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Contributed by clayverde on 22 May, 2011 - 10:13am
Last updated 26 May, 2011 - 1:58pm

re

Where exactly were you at in Polk parish?

… jwels159, 19 July, 2012 - 3:15pm

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Moved

Nice find. yep, you wouldn't want one to bump into you in flight. :)

… James C. Trager, 26 May, 2011 - 1:58pm

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Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… v belov, 25 May, 2011 - 2:22pm

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A bit of a guess

but this resembles an Atta texana queen. I worked with them briefly as an undergrad and got to observe the queen quite a bit. Let's see if anyone agrees.

… Anthony Rodgers, 22 May, 2011 - 11:04am

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Thank you!

I just looked up the Atta texana queen and it looks right to me (but what do I know?). Plus, I just mentioned it to my husband and he said it seemed like the ant was digging or burrowing into the hole, which would make sense after reading that the queens dig a chamber to lay their eggs in after mating and their wings falling off.

Honestly, the idea of that thing having wings and flying is a bit terrifying to me!

… clayverde, 22 May, 2011 - 12:01pm

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