Animal profile

Army Ant

Eciton burchellii

InsectaLowland tropical rainforest floor and understorey

Field profile

Eciton burchellii is the best-studied New World army ant, forming raiding swarms of hundreds of thousands of workers. The colony has no fixed nest; it forms a living bivouac from the workers' own bodies. Raids flush arthropods from the leaf litter.

Published field notes

2023-03-04

Army Ant

The army ant nest is built from ants

Eciton burchellii excavates nothing. At the end of each day the colony hangs a bivouac from a log or branch, made entirely of workers linked leg to leg, with the queen and brood held inside.

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