Green Tree Ant vs Buffish Mining Bee

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Green Tree Ant Buffish Mining Bee
Scientific Name Oecophylla smaragdina subnitida Andrena nigroaenea
Order Hymenoptera Hymenoptera
Family Formicidae Andrenidae
Size 5-10 mm 12-15 mm
Habitat Forests Underground
Diet Nectar Feeders Fruit Feeders
Regions Northern Australia Europe, North Africa
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Green Tree Ant

An Australian subspecies of the Asian weaver ant with distinctive bright green coloring. Indigenous Australians have traditionally eaten them and used their nests for medicinal purposes.

💡

Did You Know?

They taste like lime or lemongrass due to their high formic acid content and are eaten as bush food in northern Australia.

Buffish Mining Bee

A large mining bee with a dark metallic body and buff-brown thoracic fur. It is one of the main hosts of the early-flying nomada cuckoo bees.

💡

Did You Know?

It sometimes nests in dense aggregations of hundreds of burrows per square meter, creating a moonscape appearance on lawns.