If you are spending any time in between Cairns and Cape Tribulation, you are bound to meet or possibly eat these angry insects.

Green ant - Oecophylla smaragdina - Photo by Alex Pawlow

Often also referred to as Weaver ants in other parts of the world, Green ant have an interesting habit of building nests in the trees by weaving leaves together into a larger globular home. One nest will only be part of a colony however, with many nest across several trees being common. Only one queen will exist for the colony and reside in one of the nests. Worker ants will carry the larvae to the other nests.

Another way you may come in contact with these insects could be in the form of a dessert or specialy food. They are occassionally used to flavour trendy dishes, including icecream, and drinks. They reputedly have a lemony flavour due to the acid secretions they use as a defense mechanism...

...and they are feircly defensive. It they feel they are being threatened, they will attack in large numbers and latch on to their oponent with their mouth parts. They then raise their abdomen and release and acid into the wound. Although not very painful, if a number of ants are attacking you at once, you will likely do a little dance attempting to brush them off.