Mutualism-with-hemipterans
Guides
Pheidole megacephala
big-headed ant, coastal brown ant, African big-headed ant
Pheidole megacephala is a highly successful invasive ant species native to tropical Africa, considered among the world's worst invasive organisms. It exhibits true worker dimorphism with distinct major and minor worker castes, the former bearing disproportionately large heads used for crushing food. The species forms expansive supercolonies through budding reproduction, enabling rapid territorial expansion. It has spread globally to tropical and subtropical regions, where it aggressively displaces native ant faunas and disrupts ecosystem function through generalist predation and mutualistic associations with sap-sucking insects.