 While most ants have poor eyesight , Myrmecia ants have excellent vision . This trait is important to them , since Myrmecia primarily relies on visual cues for navigation . These ants are capable of discriminating the distance and size of objects moving nearly a metre away . Winged alates are only active during the day , as they can see better . Members of a colony have different eye structures due to each individual fulfilling different tasks , and nocturnal species have larger ommatidia in comparison to those that are active during the day . <unk> lenses also vary in size ; for example , the diurnal species M. croslandi has a smaller lens in comparison to M. nigriceps and M. pyriformis which have larger lenses . Myrmecia ants have three photoreceptors that can see UV light , meaning they are capable of seeing colours that humans cannot . Their vision is said to be better than some mammals , such as cats , dogs or wallabies . Despite their excellent vision , worker ants of this genus find it difficult to find their nests at night , due to the difficulty of finding the landmarks they use to navigate . They are thus more likely to return to their nests the following morning , walking slowly with long pauses . 
