Workers are highly polymorphic, from small raiders to large soldiers with powerful curved mandibles.
Fine-art photographic collection
Dorylus laevigatus
A largely underground army ant moving in organised predatory columns.
About this species
Asian subterranean army ant
Dorylus laevigatusSmith, 1857
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Dorylus laevigatus is an Asian army ant with a strongly subterranean lifestyle. Colonies conduct coordinated raids through soil, litter and covered galleries, attacking other ants and small invertebrates.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Formicidae · Dorylinae · Dorylini · Dorylus
Source checked · checked 2026-07-15
South and Southeast AsiaBroad documented localities — not a complete range map.
South and Southeast Asia.
Tropical and subtropical soil, forest floor, plantations and humid disturbed habitats.
Mass raids are mainly concealed below ground or beneath litter and surface cover.
Predatory, taking ant brood and other small soil invertebrates.
Very large nomadic or semi-nomadic colonies with a permanently wingless queen and strongly polymorphic workers.
What makes this species remarkable?
Most raids occur out of sight beneath the surface.
Soldiers defend the column but do not direct it.
Army-ant colonies alternate between brood-linked phases of movement and relative stability.