Just after midnight on December 26th, I was at a relative’s house in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia, when I was asked what this insect was. Of course, it was a queen ant. While holding it by the wings and taking photos, I noticed the ant’s gaster fold in half like a paper plane. After grabbing one clear photo for identification, I released the ant so it could unfold. Somehow, the ant wasn’t harmed at all. After letting her fly off into the night, I wondered what species she was. After coming home in January, I started trying to identify this peculiar ant. Despite the less-than-ideal image quality, I eventually managed to identify the queen as a Colobopsis macrocephala.
