Camponotus consobrinus (sugar) and Ochetellus glaber (black)

I was taking the 2 boys for a walk down to the river on the weekend when we came across a lone sugar ant in the middle of a swarm of about 20 tiny black ants on a patch of exposed sandstone. At first it looked like the small black ants were teaming up to attack the sugar ant, but after watching them for a while it was clear the sugar ant was not trying to get away, and was in fact chasing and attacking the much smaller black ants!

These ants have turned up at a few different places around the garden, they seem to occupy a nest for a few months and then move on. They are semi-aggressive and will swarm on you if you stand on their nest or get in their path. They don’t seem to bite though.

The photos are from the 3rd location I’ve seen them, and the first time I’ve seen them swarm in such a dense cluster. There was a lot of movement going on but it seemed ordered, like they were going about a task, some of the ants were carrying white sacks around. I dropped a matchstick next to them to give a bit of scale in the photos and all hell broke loose. The ants swarmed so aggressively that it made a sound, like a soft crunching. The matchstick was swamped. With all the new movement I got a better look deeper into the mound and could see many more white sacks underneath.