Ants >5mm and up to about 10 mm long

Includes species where the smallest individuals are usually at least 5mm long [smaller individuals are possible, especially in younger colonies], and less than 10mm long
[in species that have mixed sizes the larger ants may exceed 10mm]

Ants in multiple sizes from 2.5 mm to 6 mm; extremely active and aggressive; attack on touch; red-brown to dark-brown, almost black; large nests in ground; swarm towards you if you thump the ground: Anoplolepis steingroeveri [Small pugnacious ant], Formicinae

All ants same size, >5 mm; shiny jet black with reddish tipped gaster and paler leg joints; very slender, fast-moving and aggressive and equipped with stings: Leptogenys intermedia [Common razor-jaw ant], Ponerinae

Minor workers about 5 mm, majors with broader heads about 6–7.5 mm, mostly jet black all over; small colonies nesting in the ground, in wood or hollow stems; diurnal and common especially in fynbos: Camponotus werthi [Black sugar ant], Formicinae

Minor workers about 5 mm, majors with broader heads up to 8 mm, black or dark grey with stiff white bristles on gaster; small colonies nesting in the ground; diurnal and common especially in fynbos: Camponotus niveosetosus [Hairy sugar ant], Formicinae. This is the only South African Formicine ant that builds earthen/detritus nests in tussocks in wet habitats

Minor workers about 5 mm, majors with broader heads about 7+ mm, shiny chocolate brown with paler legs; small colonies nesting in wood, nocturnal and seldom seen: Camponotus bertolonii [Brown sugar ant], Formicinae

Ants about 5+ mm, jet black with distinctive, downward-hanging gasters; slow moving; nests may have a mound of detritus around entrance: Myrmicaria nigra [Drop-tail ant] Myrmicinae

Ants about 7-8 mm, reddish brown to black; long-legged and run around in hot weather at extremely high speeds; have a 'basket' of bristles under their heads which they use to move stones excavated from their nests: Ocymyrmex barbiger [Hotrod ant], Myrmicinae

Long legged yellow ants about 7mm that run around randomly at high speed and in large numbers; may be encountered in or near harbours; fiercely destructive of all small animals they may encounter: Anoplolepis gracilipes [Yellow crazy ant]; Formicinae : INVADER

Ants in multiple sizes from 4.55 mm to 7+ mm; red-brown to dark-brown with silvery refractive hairs forming a chequered pattern on their gasters; extremely active and aggressive; attack on touch; large nests in ground; swarm towards you if you thump the ground: Anoplolepis custodiens [Large pugnacious ant], Formicinae

Ants in multiple sizes from 2 mm to 8 mm; red to range-red and all blind [no eyes]; form dense nomadic columns that swarm through gardens and fields by night or in dull weather; fiercely aggressive and attack on contact: Dorylus helvolus [Red driver ant], Dorylinae

Ants are 8.5 to 9 mm, and although the body colour is black they are covered in a dense, silvery-white pubescence, giving them an overall silver appearance; no pilosity on antennae. Prominent spines on petiole and downward-curving spines on pronotum; nesting habits not known:  Polyrhachis schlueteri [Silver spiny sugar ant]; Formicinae

Ants can be from 9 to 14 mm depending upon location, but in the same nest they are all the same size; black with dense grey pubescence; erect white to pale yellow pilosity; erect hairs on antennae; prominent spines on petiole and pronotum: nest in silk-lined nests in grass or ground: Polyrhachis schistacea [Savannah spiny sugar ant], Formicinae

Ants in multiple sizes from about 4.5 mm to 11 mm; shiny jet-black or dark brown; form slow-moving trails carrying vegetable detritus to their nests; trails freeze if you thump the ground near them; a mound of detritus may form around the nest entrance: Messor capensis [Cape harvester ant], Myrmicinae