Honey Bee vs Yellow Crazy Ant

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Honey Bee Yellow Crazy Ant
Scientific Name Apis mellifera Anoplolepis gracilipes
Order Hymenoptera Hymenoptera
Family Apidae Formicidae
Size 12-15 mm 4-5 mm
Habitat Heathland Beaches & Coastal
Diet Nectar Feeders Fruit Feeders
Regions Worldwide Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, Indian Ocean Islands, Australia
Conservation Least Concern Not Evaluated

Honey Bee

The worlds most important pollinator. Lives in complex colonies of up to 80,000 individuals with a single queen. Communicates food locations through the waggle dance.

💡

Did You Know?

A honey bee must visit about 2 million flowers and fly over 88,000 km — equivalent to circling the Earth twice — to produce just one pound of honey.

Yellow Crazy Ant

A long-legged, fast-moving invasive ant named for its erratic running pattern. They form supercolonies with multiple queens that can devastate island ecosystems.

💡

Did You Know?

On Christmas Island they killed millions of native red crabs, fundamentally altering the island's entire ecosystem.