Workers are large, commonly around 9–12 mm.
Fine-art photographic collection
Daceton armigerum
An arboreal ambush hunter armed with huge, fast-closing mandibles.
About this species
Daceton armigerum(Latreille, 1802)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Daceton armigerum is a large canopy ant of northern South America. Workers wait on branches and use elongated trap-like mandibles to seize arthropod prey.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Formicidae · Daceton
Source checked · checked 2026-07-15
Amazonian South AmericaBroad documented localities — not a complete range map.
Amazonian and Guianan regions of northern South America.
Lowland tropical rainforest, primarily on trunks and branches.
Arboreal workers patrol and ambush prey on vegetation.
Predatory on arthropods, with sugary plant and insect secretions also used.
Large, often polydomous colonies occupy cavities in branches and trunks and may contain multiple queens.
What makes this species remarkable?
The mandibles open extremely wide and close rapidly when sensory hairs are triggered.
Workers can cooperate to subdue prey much larger than a single ant.
The broad head houses the muscles needed to accelerate the mandibles.
Sources and scientific references
More photographs
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