Strumigenys lewisi
Strumigenys lewisi
A small species of ants which originates from South East Asia. This colourful Dacetine is highly specialised and adapted to capture living prey such as springtails. Their ability to jump as well as snap their mandibles shut at a high speed, enables them to trap invertebrates such as nimble springtails.
Strumigenys lewisi seem to thrive in naturalistic, leaf-litter based setups. Interestingly, these co-exist quite comfortably with larger sized ants due to the fact that as they occupy such a specific niche, they rarely compete with other ant species for food resources.
And guess what, it gets even more interesting! This species of ant has evolved to have a defense mechanism whereby workers and queens will remain motionless upon contact with predators/danger elements!
The setup should provide a nest temperature of 24-25C and a high humidity of 60-70% as they originate from tropical climates.
It is illegal and strictly frowned upon to release any non-native ants into the wild.
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