Dorylus, also known as
driver ants,
safari ants, or
siafu, is a large
genus of
army ants found primarily in central and east
Africa, although the range also extends to tropical
Asia. The term
siafu is a
loanword from
Swahili, and is one of numerous similar words from regional
Bantu languages used by
indigenous peoples to describe various species of these ants. Unlike the
New World members of the former subfamily Ecitoninae (now
Dorylinae), members of this genus do form temporary
anthills lasting from a few days up to three months. Each
colony can contain over 20 million individuals. As with their New World counterparts, there is a soldier class among the workers, which is larger, with a very large head and pincer-like
mandibles. They are capable of
stinging, but very rarely do so, relying instead on their powerful shearing jaws.