Chirping Ant

Mystrium minurritio

Chirping Ant is a 4 inch long ant that specializes in hunting the many species of birds that call Skull Island home, each subspecies specializes in a specific species of bird, M. minurritio specializes in the Alexander’s Bone Budgie. It achieves this by mimicking the roosting calls of their prey items by pushing gas produced from digestion through holes lining the Thorax and Gastor. Each hole is slightly larger or smaller than the other to create a different frequency. Once a flock of birds land on the tree the Ant is waiting in the ant will pounce upon an individual, holding onto it with jaws similar the Trap-jaw Ant and then using its stinger to pump the bird with paralyzing venom. Once subdued the ant will drag the bird back to the nearby colony, these massive 500 meter long nests are made up of food chambers, water chambers, egg chambers, larva chambers, toilet chambers and the royal chamber. The colony only needs about 10 birds a week to feed the colony, which hardly puts a dent in their preys numbers. Breeding season begins in early march and ends in late april, during this time many winged drones and princesses are ironically consumed by birds.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Amblyoponinae
Tribe: Amblyoponini
Genus: Mystrium
Species: M. minurritio