Workers are roughly 5–7 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Stictoponera bicolor
An ant in which an ordinary-looking worker can mate, store sperm and become the colony’s permanent egg-layer.
About this species
Stictoponera bicolor(Emery, 1889)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Stictoponera bicolor is a predatory ponerine ant of South and Southeast Asia, formerly placed in Gnamptogenys. Its reproductive system is exceptionally flexible: many colonies operate without a morphologically specialised queen.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Formicidae · Ponerinae · Stictoponera
Accepted as Stictoponera bicolor; the gallery uses the former combination Gnamptogenys bicolor. · checked 2026-07-15
South and Southeast Asia, from India and Myanmar through Indochina and parts of MalesiaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
South and Southeast Asia, from India and Myanmar through Indochina and parts of Malesia
Leaf litter, rotting wood and soil cavities in tropical forest.
Workers forage singly through litter and on the ground.
Small arthropods and other animal prey.
Usually small colonies; reproduction may be performed by a mated worker, while winged queens occur in some northern populations.
What makes this species remarkable?
In many populations there is no specialised queen at all: one mated worker becomes a gamergate and produces the colony’s female offspring while remaining externally worker-like.
Workers retain a functional sperm-storage organ, the spermatheca — a rare anatomical capacity that means a worker can mate once and fertilise eggs for an extended period.
The species changes reproductive strategy across its range: colonies studied farther north in Vietnam possess winged queens, whereas other populations rely on reproductive workers.