Myrmecia gulosa
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Myrmecia gulosa, the red bull ant, also known as the giant bull ant or Bulldog Ant, is a species of bulldog ant from the genus Myrmecia. It is abundant throughout Eastern Australia. The first Myrmecia gulosa specimen was collected in 1770 by Joseph Banks, making it one of the first Australian insects to be collected and described by a European.
Being one of the larger ant species, adult individuals have been observed to be as long as 15 mm to 30 mm in body length. The head and thorax are typically coloured red-brown; the rear half of the abdomen is black and the mandibles brown-yellow. Adults characteristically possess the long, powerful serrated mandibles and a venom-laced sting that is capable of causing severe pain for a couple of days. Unlike most other ant species, red bull ants lack the ability of chemical senses; however, this is compensated by their extremely keen vision, with which they can spot and respond to intruders up to two metres away.
Myrmecia gulosa ants are abundant in eastern Australia. They can be found in the coastal regions of Queensland and eastern New South Wales. Populations can be found in the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Booderee National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Red Bull Ant sighting in Sydney on a given day, based on 20 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 324th most-seen of the 742 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red Bull Ant in Sydney on a given day, against under 5% in July and September–May, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red Bull Ant sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Sydney, in our data
Sydney is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Red Bull Ant sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Myrmecia
The closest relatives of the Red Bull Ant that you can see in Sydney (genus Myrmecia, Bull Ants) are Jumping Jack Ant (about 20%), Giant Bulldog Ant (about 10%) and Australian Jumper Ant (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red Bull Ant is recorded against all the insects logged in Sydney (20 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
