Weaver Ants are known for their unique and remarkable cooperative nesting behaviour in which workers construct nests by weaving together leaves using larval silk.
The first phase in nest construction involves workers surveying potential nesting leaves by pulling on their edges with their mandibles. When a few ants have successfully bent a leaf onto itself or drawn its edge toward another, other workers nearby join the effort. When the distance between two leaves is beyond the reach of a single ant, workers form chains with their bodies by grasping one another's petiole (waist). Once the edges of the leaves are drawn together, other workers retrieve larvae from existing nests using their mandibles. These workers hold and manipulate the larvae in such a way that causes them to excrete silk. The workers then manoeuvre between the leaves in a highly coordinated fashion to bind them together.
The time required to construct a nest varies depending on leaf type and eventual size, but often a large nest can be built in significantly less than 24 hours! Although weaver ant's nests are strong and impermeable to water, new nests are continually being built by workers in large colonies to replace old dying nests and those damaged by storms.
Their ability to cooperatively build nests, form chains and carry up to 100 times their own mass clearly explain their ecological success.
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