Weaver ant facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Oecophylla Temporal range: 47–0Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Eocene - Recent
Nest construction by O. smaragdina major workers (Thailand)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Oecophyllini
Genus:	Oecophylla Smith, 1860
Species
†Oecophylla atavina †Oecophylla bartoniana †Oecophylla brischkei †Oecophylla crassinoda †Oecophylla eckfeldiana †Oecophylla grandimandibula †Oecophylla leakeyi Oecophylla longinoda †Oecophylla longiceps †Oecophylla megarche †Oecophylla obesa †Oecophylla perdita †Oecophylla praeclara †Oecophylla sicula Oecophylla smaragdina †Oecophylla superba †Oecophylla xiejiaheensis
Diversity
2 species
Oecophylla range map. Oecophylla longinoda in blue, Oecophylla smaragdina in red.

Weaver ants, also known as tailor ants or green ants, are amazing insects that live in big groups, like a team. They belong to the Oecophylla genus. These ants are famous for building their homes, called nests, out of living leaves still attached to trees.

Instead of using needles and thread, they use a special kind of silk. This silk is made by their own baby ants, called grubs, right from their mouths! The worker ants carefully pass these grubs back and forth between leaves to "sew" them together. You can find tailor ants mostly in the rainforests of Asia.

A single group of weaver ants, called a colony, can be huge. It might have more than half a million worker ants! These large colonies can spread out, building over a hundred nests across many different trees.

Images for kids

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  Liquid food exchange (trophallaxis) in O. smaragdina

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  Two O. smaragdina transferring food to their colony

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  Weaver ants collaborating to pull nest leaves together

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  Weaver ant nest on a mango tree

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  O. smaragdina tending scale insects

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  Leaf packets of larvae in Isaan typically sell for about 20 Thai Baht each (about 0.65 USD)