Polyrhachis dives

Commonly found in grassland and often in people's vegetable gardens. It is one of the few species that carries its own larvae to spin silk, stitching it together with leaf litter, soil and twigs to build a nest. In gardens it often nests under tarpaulins, in bamboo tubes or in buckets. The resulting nest is tough and water-resistant, making this species one of the ant world's master builders. The body is matte black with silvery-white bands on the gaster; workers are monomorphic with no soldiers, the exoskeleton is hard, and the thorax carries two backward-pointing spines. Its formic acid is strong and its temperament excitable, and it has previously been considered as a candidate for biological control of the red imported fire ant.