ABSTRACT
Oecophylla longinoda (Latreille), the weaver ant, is an arboreal species. Its nests are built from leaves bound together by silk extracted from last instar larvae. The workers grasp the silk between their mandibles and weave their nests by shuttling to and fro (hence the name “weaver anť). Large societies of these ants occupy the canopy of a single large tree or they may extend their territory to several trees (Way 1954). The species is characterized by extremely aggressive workers who defend their territory against all intruders, including conspecifics and other ant species. Therefore, where abundant, the weaver ant is a key element of the ant mosaic (Room 1971, Leston 1973, Hölldobler and Wilson 1978).
