CreatureData

Penny ant

Tetramorium bicarinatum (Nylander, 1846)

Status not recordedbees wasps and ants

The penny ant (Tetramorium bicarinatum) is a species in the family Formicidae, order Hymenoptera.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the penny ant

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the penny ant live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the penny ant as introduced in 27 countries, and flagged as invasive in 2 of them.

  1. Ecuadorinvasive
  2. United Arab Emiratesinvasive
  3. Algeria
  4. Antigua & Barbuda
  5. Australia
  6. Austria
  7. Bahrain
  8. Barbados
  9. Belgium
  10. Chile
  11. Costa Rica
  12. Cuba
  13. Cyprus
  14. France
  15. Grenada
  16. Marshall Islands
  17. Mauritius
  18. Mayotte
  19. Mexico
  20. Montserrat
  21. Morocco
  22. New Zealand
  23. Solomon Islands
  24. Spain
Show 3 more countries
  1. Tokelau
  2. Tonga
  3. United States

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the penny ant endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the penny ant classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderHymenoptera
  5. familyFormicidae
  6. genusTetramorium
  7. SpeciesTetramorium bicarinatum (Nylander, 1846)

Synonyms Myrmica bicarinata, Myrmica cariniceps, Myrmica kollari, Myrmica modesta, Myrmica reticulata, Tetramorium cariniceps, Tetramorium kollari, Tetramorium modesta, Tetramorium reticulata

Other names and names in other languages (14)
  • Bicolored pennant antEnglish
  • Bicoloured pennant antEnglish
  • Guinea antEnglish
  • Tramp antEnglish
  • Pandelistet frømyreDanish
  • Hormiga asiática bicolorSpanish
  • hódító gyepihangyaHungarian
  • Formica vagabonda tricoloreItalian
  • オオシワアリJapanese
  • 왕주름개미Korean
  • RibbelzaadmierDutch
  • มดริ้วหน้าสันThai
  • 雙脊皺家蟻Chinese
  • 雙隆骨鋪道蟻Chinese

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the penny ant

Other species in the same genus Tetramorium.

Turf ant

Tetramorium caespitum

FormicidaeNo free photo yet

Wooly ant

Tetramorium lanuginosum

FormicidaeNo free photo yet

ComparePenny ant vs Turf antPenny ant vs Dark Guest antPenny ant vs Japanese pavement antPenny ant vs Wooly ant

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the penny ant an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the penny ant as invasive in 2 countries: Ecuador and United Arab Emirates. It lists it as introduced in 27 in all.

What kind of animal is the penny ant?

The penny ant (Tetramorium bicarinatum) belongs to the family Formicidae in the order Hymenoptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Penny ant (Tetramorium bicarinatum). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/penny-ant

MLA

“Penny ant (Tetramorium bicarinatum).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/penny-ant.

BibTeX
@misc{penny_ant_2026,
  title = {Penny ant (Tetramorium bicarinatum)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/penny-ant},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}