Ghost ant
The ghost ant is a tiny ant with a dark head and a see-through, milky white back end and legs. Because it is so pale, it almost disappears, like a little ghost. It is one of the hardest ants to spot.
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Fun facts
Its pale colour makes this tiny ant look even smaller than it really is.
It cannot stand the cold, so in cooler countries it only lives in warm buildings and greenhouses.
It has been found in 154 different places around the world, even on the Galapagos Islands.
The queen is the biggest ant in the nest, at about 2.5 millimetres.
Nobody knows for sure where it first came from, but scientists think it was Africa or Asia.
Most asked questions about Ghost ant
?Why are they called ghost ants?
Their legs and back end are so pale and see-through that the ants are hard to see, like ghosts.
?How big is a ghost ant?
Tiny. A worker is only about 1.3 to 2 millimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Tapinoma melanocephalum
- Group
- Ants
- Family
- Formicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Formicidae
- Lives on
- Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Tapinoma melanocephalum (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Sarefo. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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