Gavin McGrath, Secret life of Australia’s ants, the hardest workers in any backyard, ABC News, 18 May 2025
They are builders, miners, carpenters and farmers. And despite a mostly undeserved reputation for being a stinging pest, Australian ants do an extraordinary amount of environmental heavy lifting.
While several high-profile invasive ant species — such as the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) from South America and the yellow crazy ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes) from Asia — have caused alarm due to the threat they pose to domestic agriculture and the environment, their native counterparts have quietly continued their vital, often unheralded, work.
