New Video: Gold Ants of Indonesia


During a recent trip to Bali, Indonesia I managed to film ants and ran into several species, but the coolest of them all had to be the GOLD ants! I even saw a SILVER one!

I found GOLD ANTS in Indonesia!

Hi guys, what’s up? AntsCanada here, and I am here in beautiful Bali, Indonesia, and I want to go looking for some ants, so come and join me! Let’s go.

I saw some ants right here, and they were walking around. So there’s a really, really tiny species of ants. I don’t know what they are. See them? Not sure what they are. Um, and I do see, of course, Paratrechina longicornis, the pantropical species that are found in nearly all tropical and subtropical areas.

Now, I’m going to try looking for other ants because this is a very rich and, I guess, diverse habitat. I see lots of plants and other insects, so for sure, there are ants here in this area. I’m here at a resort. I’ve discovered Bali, Indonesia, to be such a beautiful island—tropical and warm—and it rains right now every day. I guess it’s their wet season. I expect there to be ants similar to the Philippines because we’re generally in the same region of the world, and I assume our seasons are the same. Our weather is certainly the same—really hot. Look at the plants; it’s really amazing.

Now, plants like this, flowering plants, really depend on insects to pollinate, so for sure, we’re going to find some ants around here.

Now, here I see ghost ants, Tapinoma melanocephalum. See them? They’re also pantropical, meaning they are found in almost all tropical regions. And it looks like they might be feeding from, um, plant insects, like small mealybugs or something. They’re not feeding on those plant insects; they’re just feeding from the sweet secretions that they release called honeydew. A lot of ants have ‘ant cows,’ and it looks like they’re taking advantage of that. They’re all over this plant.

Oh, and actually, look here. I can see a Solenopsis species. This actually looks like, um, Solenopsis geminata, another pantropical species, and it does look like they are feeding from plant insects.

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I’m actually afraid to bother them. I don’t want them to sting me because most ants who tend to plant insects are kind of aggressive, and they really defend them. Ants love their sweets and their ‘ant cows,’ pretty neat! In the back there, you’ll see Paratrechina longicornis going up and down. Oh no, sorry, that’s not Paratrechina longicornis; that’s more Tapinoma melanocephalum and Solenopsis geminata. These plant insects must be everywhere on this plant. Let’s see if we can get closer. Wow, there are actually a lot of these plant insects and ants tending to them. Pretty cool.

So, here are some Paratrechina longicornis, Black Crazy Ants, carrying a cockroach leg—well, it looks like a cockroach leg. Yep, that’s a cockroach leg. Look at them cooperatively bringing that to the nest. I wonder where the nest is. They’re bringing it upwards, so let’s follow. Okay, it’s somewhere in this crack here. It’s probably where they’re living. Very neat. Go, guys!

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Over here are Anoplolepis gracilipes, also known as Yellow Crazy Ants. We find them all over Asia. They’re all over here, and they go here. I wonder where their nest is. See them here? If you want just… and I see some of them here trying to lift this bean sprout. Oh, I see—they’re getting the food from this religious offering, I suppose. Interesting. I probably shouldn’t be here, actually, if this is a religious area. Sorry.

I know I said I probably shouldn’t be in this religious area, but I see a ton of ants here in this offering. I see really tiny Monomorium destructor. Um, I also see Solenopsis geminata in here, Paratrechina longicornis. This is just like an ant feeding ground. The ants here in Indonesia must love the fact that they have food everywhere because of these offerings.

See? Okay, these aren’t ants, but they’re termites. There—see them? I just split open this… oh, there they are!

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Wow, they’re all in here. Okay, I’m going to put it back. Sorry, guys, you can continue to live in termite peace. Look at these crazy ants carrying this other ant.

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Wow, they’re taking that ant to the colony to eat. And I’m being feasted on by Indonesian mosquitoes here in this bamboo forest. Look at all of these Tapinoma melanocephalum. They’re going into this hole, and it looks like they’re transporting brood prey into this little hole here. Amazing. I wonder if we’ll see the queen. These colonies usually have lots of queens—they’re polygynous. They are so busy!

I bet these people think I’m strange, holding my phone up, trying to film random things around. I bet they think I’m catching Pokémon!

Here is a migrating colony of Monomorium destructor. That’s a lot of ants. I am sure there’s a queen here somewhere. I believe these guys are polygynous as well. They’re coming out of this hole.

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Oh! Alate! Look at that alate queen! There she goes! I wonder when their nuptial flights are. It’s the rainy season here in Southeast Asia, so I’m assuming it’s around now. That’s great! There she goes. They’re disappearing into that bush. Awesome!

These ants are amazing. I believe this is a species of Polyrhachis. They have golden gers if you look carefully, like they’re iridescent. And it looks like they’re feeding from exudates from this blossom, from this flower. Totally cool!

If you’re able to keep them, they create nests in trees. Um, so they’re actually kind of a type of weaver ant, but they use mud as well to fashion the nests. Oops, I hope I’m not alarming them. See if I can get closer.

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Amazing! Oops, sorry guys, see if I can come in through this angle here. I also see other insects there too. See that mating pair of whatever bug that is? I bet they’re also feeding from this blossom. Awesome, very cool.

Here’s another Polyrhachis, but it seems like it’s a different species. It’s not golden like the other ones; it’s more silver. Polyrhachis actually is a very large genus of ants. There are so many kinds. I know in the Philippines alone, over 200 have been described, according to my friend David General, who is an ant taxonomist and myrmecologist.

Well, it looks like Indonesia has some really, really cool ants here in Bali. Thanks so much for watching another episode of the AntsCanada Ant Channel, and be sure to tune in next week because we upload a new ant video every week. Take care! It’s ant love forever!

Thank you guys so much for watching this video on ants from Indonesia. It really means a lot to me. Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel—we upload a new video about ants every week, every Monday, so look out for that. And also, please do share this video if you enjoyed it. We’ve got a lot of great videos here on ants. Check out our ant tutorial playlist for those of you who would like to get into the ant-keeping hobby. It is so fun, super educational, and trust me, so rewarding.

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Bye-bye.