The yellow crazy ant is a successful ‘tramp’ species which has spread throughout
the tropics in association with man. It can form large, multi-queen ‘supercolonies’,
which are situated on the ground or in the crowns of coconut palms. New colonies
appear to form mainly by budding from existing colonies (Haines et al. 1994), and
the rate of spread can be rapid: 0.1–3 m per day (Haines and Haines 1978a; Green et
al. 1999). Like many other ants, yellow crazy ants exploit two major food sources:
carbohydrates provided largely by the exudates (honeydew) of soft bugs (Hemiptera:
Sternorrhyncha), and proteins from animal prey (Haines et al. 1994).