This species forms large supercolonies with multiple queens. In Java, the nests are built on the ground or on rocks, but in other regions, such as peninsular Malaya and Singapore, large partial nests with many chambers are built in the treetops on the underside of leaves. Inside these, on the leaf surface, the ants tend scale insects and treehoppers as throphobionts; the hemipteran such sap from the leaves and the ants feed on the honeydew secreted. In other locations on the trees, carton structures, made of fibrous chewed plant material, are built to house the throphobionts. The ants actively collect their hemipterans guests, transporting them to the ant nests or to the protected free-feeding sites.
