South and Southeast Asia, including India, China and mainland and island Southeast Asia.
Fine-art photographic collection
Cerapachys sulcinodis
An ant that behaves like a miniature army-ant colony without building a permanent raiding empire.
About this species
Cerapachys sulcinodisEmery, 1889
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Cerapachys sulcinodis is a specialised predator of other ants. Colonies alternate between reproductive and foraging phases, coordinating brood production and raids in a pattern convergent with army ants.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Formicidae · Cerapachys
Accepted species. Published work treats Cerapachys sulcinodis as part of a difficult species complex, so identification should be interpreted cautiously. · checked 2026-07-15
South and Southeast AsiaBroad documented range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
What makes this species remarkable?
Colonies can contain well over a thousand workers, all synchronising activity around pulses of brood development rather than reproducing continuously.
Raiding parties may include around a hundred workers that enter other ant nests and carry away brood as food.
The colony's reproductive cycle is phasic: foraging intensity, queen egg laying and larval presence rise and fall together like a smaller-scale army-ant rhythm.