Inch Ant

Inch Ant

Myrmecia pyriformis

Endemic
Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Great Otway National Park

In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%

28 Verified sightings at Great Otway National Park From 2019 to 2026
83 In all 3 parks
April Best month
☀️🌙 Day & Night When it's spotted

About the Inch Ant

Myrmecia pyriformis, also known as the bull ant or inch ant, is an Australian ant. Myrmecia pyriformis belongs to the genus Myrmecia. It is abundant in many major cities of Australia, but mostly spotted in the eastern states. The species is of a similar appearance to the Myrmecia forficata.

Sizes of the Myrmecia pyriformis range around 14–23 millimetres (0.55–0.91 inches) long. Female workers can grow as large as 26 millimetres (1.0 inch) while males only grow to 18–20 millimetres (0.71–0.79 inches) long. Mandibles and most other features are dark red. Thoraxes are sometimes blackish-brown.

Myrmecia pyriformis is known to survive without a queen. While some species of Myrmecia possess the gamergates, the female workers of Myrmecia pyriformis are also able to reproduce. A colony of the genus was collected in 1998 without a queen, but the colony continued producing workers for the next three years.

Guinness World Records listed Myrmecia pyriformis as the world's most dangerous ant. Myrmecia pyriformis was first described by British entomologist Frederick Smith in his 1858 publication Catalogue of hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum part VI, based... Wikipedia →

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Grampians National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
2 Great Otway National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~10%
3 Blue Mountains National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~10%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Melbourne 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing an Inch Ant in Great Otway National Park?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Inch Ant sighting in Great Otway National Park on a given day, based on 28 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 64th most-seen of the 418 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see an Inch Ant in Great Otway National Park?

April–May and July–August

In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Inch Ant in Great Otway National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September and December–January, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see an Inch Ant?

Between 11 am and 2 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Inch Ant sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.

Is Great Otway National Park the best place to see an Inch Ant?

2nd of 3

Of the 3 parks where we can rate Inch Ant sightings, Great Otway National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Grampians National Park (Australia, about 20%).

Which relatives of the Inch Ant live in Great Otway National Park?

Same genus: Myrmecia

The closest relatives of the Inch Ant that you can see in Great Otway National Park (genus Myrmecia, Bull Ants) are Jack Jumper Ant (about 30%), Black-Scaped Bull Ant (about 20%) and Inchman Ant (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Inch Ant sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Inch Ant is recorded against all the insects logged in Great Otway National Park (28 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.

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