Moloch is big for an ant-eating lizard. Long-lived and slow-growing. It is not necessarily allopatric with Arenophryne everywhere.
Arenophryne (SV female 3 cm) is even more sand-dependent than Moloch (SV up to 11 cm)
Lialis can shed >50% of its body mass as tail. It breeds slowly, with a clutch of?up to 2
Pseudophryne is aposematic, like many ant-eating frogs elsewhere, suggesting slow reproduction, and possible use of ant toxins.
Chatgpt
Does Breviceps macrops eat ants?
Yes. Breviceps macrops does eat ants, although it is not an ant specialist.
Analysis of the species’ scat (faeces) has shown that its diet includes ants and beetles, with at least four beetle species identified. The frogs also forage around dung heaps, where insects are abundant, suggesting they feed opportunistically on a variety of small arthropods attracted there.
The key primary reference for the diet is:
John Channing & J. H. van Wyk (1987). Dietary analysis of Breviceps macrops based on scat samples. (Cited by subsequent authoritative accounts.)
An authoritative summary is:
South African Red Data Book – Reptiles and Amphibians. Edited by William R. Branch. South African National Scientific Programmes Report No. 151. The account states:
“The diet has been found to include beetles (at least four species being recorded) and ants based on an analysis of scat samples (Channing and Van Wyk, 1987).”
More broadly, members of the genus Breviceps are known to consume a range of small arthropods, including ants, termites, beetles, moths, woodlice, amphipods, juvenile millipedes, and caterpillars.
Thus, unlike highly myrmecophagous frogs such as Arenophryne rotunda, Breviceps macrops appears to be a generalist insectivore that regularly eats ants but also takes a variety of other invertebrates when available.
Chatgpt
I have long had an impression that the remarkably diverse indigenous fauna of ants has been remarkably unsuccessful in persisting in the face of urbanisation.
I phoned the Garden Advisory Centre in the late ‘nineties:
One of the most common Iridomyrmex is I. chasei, an odorous species (recognisable by its strong odour). It is common in Perth suburbs, despite being indigenous.
Also indigenous and in the suburbs: Prolasius, Iridomyrmex bicknellii, and many other spp.!
The persistence of indigenous ants applies particularly to the Darling Range, but is true also for the inner suburbs.
The argentine ant, introduced, is present in Perth.
The coastal brown ant is introduced and invasive. It is very territorial, and excludes even the argentine ant. It cannot be eradicated in the same way as other pest ants. Instead, it needs to be baited.
So, it seems that indigenous ants do, after all, survive in the Perth suburbs.
Chatgpt
Do most spp. of Eciton eat mainly ants?
Yes. Most species of Eciton are predators of other ants, and ants constitute the great majority of their diet.
The genus Eciton comprises the New World army ants (subfamily Dorylinae). Although they will sometimes take other arthropods opportunistically, the available ecological studies indicate that most species are specialized ant predators.
Some examples:
Eciton burchellii primarily raids colonies of other ants, especially medium- and large-bodied species. Workers, brood (larvae and pupae), and queens may all be taken.
Eciton hamatum is likewise predominantly myrmecophagous (ant-eating), often targeting arboreal ants such as species of Camponotus, Cephalotes, and Azteca.
Eciton dulcium and several less-studied congeners also appear to specialize on ant brood and adult ants, although their prey spectra are less comprehensively documented.
This contrasts with many Old World army ants in the genus Dorylus. While some Dorylus species are also predominantly ant predators, others have much broader diets that include termites and a wide variety of other invertebrates, and some swarm opportunistically over almost any suitable animal prey.
Key references
Edward O. Wilson (1971). The Insect Societies. Harvard University Press. (Comprehensive treatment of the ecology and prey preferences of army ants.)
Thomas C. Schneirla (1971). Army Ants: A Study in Social Organization. W. H. Freeman. (Classic monograph on the biology and feeding ecology of Eciton.)
Sean O’Donnell (various papers). Reviews and field studies on Eciton foraging ecology and prey selection.
So, the answer to your question is yes: based on current knowledge, most species of Eciton feed mainly on other ants, particularly ant brood, making the genus one of the clearest examples of specialized myrmecophagous predators among social insects.
Chatgpt
Are the queens of Dorylus the most massive known ants?
Yes. Among living ants, the queens of the African army ants in the genus Dorylus are generally regarded as the most massive—and, depending on the species and stage of the reproductive cycle, also the largest.
Key points:
By body mass: The physogastric (enormously swollen, egg-laying) queens of Dorylus are the heaviest ants known. During peak egg production, their abdomen expands dramatically, making them far more massive than the queens of other ant genera.
By length: Fully physogastric queens typically exceed 5 cm in body length, and some reports give values approaching 8 cm in exceptionally swollen individuals of species such as Dorylus molestus. The latter figures should be treated cautiously because they are not based on standardized taxonomic measurements.
World-record recognition: Guinness World Records lists the queen of Dorylus fulvus as the largest living ant, with a maximum recorded length of 5 cm.
It is worth distinguishing several different “largest ant” categories:
Criterion Taxon
Most massive queen Dorylus queens
Longest living ant Dorylus queens (physogastric)
Largest workers on average Dinoponera gigantea
Largest non-queen individuals by robustness Dinomyrmex gigas major workers
Largest known ant ever (extinct) Titanomyrma gigantea queens, reaching about 7 cm in length
The extraordinary size of Dorylus queens is a consequence of physogastry. The queen’s abdomen enlarges enormously as the ovaries develop, allowing her to lay several million eggs per month. Unlike the permanently winged queens of many ants, a mature Dorylus queen becomes a highly specialized, almost immobile egg-laying organism that is continuously attended and transported by workers.
So, if “most massive” is taken literally as greatest body mass, the answer is yes: the physogastric queens of Dorylus are the most massive ants known among living species. If fossil ants are included, however, queens of Titanomyrma gigantea were even larger in overall dimensions.
Chatgpt
In which publication has Alan Anderson suggested that the reptilian ant-eaters of Australia far outweigh, in ecological effect, the mammalian ant-eaters of southern Africa?
The publication you are looking for is almost certainly:
Andersen, A. N. & Vasconcelos, H. L. (2022). “Savanna ant communities differ dramatically in functional composition among three continents.” Journal of Biogeography 49(5): 761–772.
CitedDOI
In this review, Alan N. Andersen contrasts the ecological roles of ants and their predators across the savannas of Australia, Africa and South America. While discussing the extraordinary abundance and ecological dominance of Australian reptiles, he notes that Australia’s reptilian myrmecophages have a much greater ecological importance than the mammalian myrmecophages characteristic of Africa.
The comparison you paraphrase—that Australia’s reptilian ant-eaters outweigh, in ecological effect, the mammalian ant-eaters of southern Africa—appears in the discussion of Australia’s distinctive vertebrate fauna rather than as a formal hypothesis or title. It is presented as an illustration of Australia’s unusually reptile-dominated ecosystems.
The intellectual background for this argument comes from Andersen’s long-standing interest in the exceptional ecological importance of Australian reptiles and ants. Closely related publications include:
Abensperg-Traun, M. & Steven, D. (1997). “Ant- and termite-eating in Australian mammals and lizards: a comparison.” Australian Journal of Ecology 22: 9–17. This paper quantitatively compares Australian mammalian and reptilian myrmecophages and shows the remarkable diversity and abundance of the reptilian guild.
Andersen, A. N. (2019). “Responses of ant communities to disturbance: Five principles for understanding the disturbance dynamics of a globally dominant faunal group.” Journal of Animal Ecology 88: 350–362. This review provides broader context on the ecological dominance of ants in Australia and Andersen’s perspective on Australian ecosystems.
If your question concerns the exact wording (“far outweigh, in ecological effect, the mammalian ant-eaters of southern Africa”), I suspect it may come from a conference presentation, book chapter, or interview rather than the 2022 journal article itself. The indexed web sources identify the 2022 Journal of Biogeography paper as the publication in which Andersen develops this comparative Australia–Africa argument, but they do not expose enough text to verify that exact sentence.
Me: Ants and termites follow different patterns. Ants are favoured by nutrient poverty, whereas termites are favoured by nutrient richness. Fire favours ants, but disfavours termites. Thus Australia, being nutrient poor and fire-prone, has many ants, but s Afr, being nutrient-rich and fire-free, has many termites. Does this simple paradigm hold?
Posted on July 4, 2026 05:09 AM by
milewski