peterslingsby's Identifications

Regular occurrence in the enlarged thorns of the sweet thorn.
Believes that it is a symbiosis between a wasp and the above ant.
Where the wasp causes the enlargement of the thorn, and the ant uses it for the hatching of its larvae after the wasp larvae reached adulthood.

Tetraponera with golden gaster

I spotted a group of these beautiful yellow and brown slender ants on a 'werfmuur' of a farm we are visiting in the Stilbaai area. They are quite large measuring around 8mm, some just over. The eye looks slightly teardrop shaped towards the rear also. There were a few individuals with a more uniform orange colouring that reminds of Tetraponera natalensis and they were a mm or so smaller also. I don't know if this is colour variation in the same species or two different species. The last 5 images are of one or two of these ants. In Ants of SA p224 - 229 Tetraponera. n. obscurata looked closest but is way too small and rather than just darker in places this one looks distinctly lighter and more yellow on the gaster. Therefore, I remain unsure which slender ants these are.