Green Tree Ant vs Cape Honey Bee

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Green Tree Ant Cape Honey Bee
Scientific Name Oecophylla smaragdina subnitida Apis mellifera capensis
Order Hymenoptera Hymenoptera
Family Formicidae Apidae
Size 5-10 mm Workers 11-13 mm
Habitat Forests Beaches & Coastal
Diet Nectar Feeders Nectar Feeders
Regions Northern Australia South Africa (Western Cape, Eastern Cape)
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.

Cape Honey Bee

A unique honey bee subspecies where workers can lay diploid female eggs without mating. It is restricted to the winter rainfall region of South Africa.

💡

Did You Know?

Worker bees of this subspecies can clone themselves through a rare reproductive process called thelytokous parthenogenesis.