Polyrhachis dives is a wide-ranging species of ant from southern Asia and the Northern Territory of Australia.

Throughout its wide distribution, P. dives is a morphologically stable species with only a few, insignificant differences between individuals, even those from far away locations.

However, Southeast Asian specimens generally have a more deeply notched anterior clypeal margin and eyes that only rarely exceed the lateral cephalic outline.

In contrast, the anterior clypeal margin in Australian and New Guinean specimens is only shallowly emarginated and the eyes exceed the lateral cephalic outline.

It prefers mostly open savannah woodlands and swampy coastal plains, where it builds its silk and/or carton-based, relatively large, and usually has many nests between the branches and leaves of shrubs.