Myrmecology (study of ants).
31 May 2022, 12:38 pm
Ranging from the ant you might find scuttling across your picnic to the ants building underground fortresses in the rainforest, to flying ants!
2. The bullet ant is said to have the most painful sting in the world!
Living in humid jungle conditions such as the Amazon, their sting has been compared to being hit by a bullet – ouch!
3. Fire ants cause over £3 billion worth of damage a year!
North America’s red imported fire ant might only be little, but the tiny critters have a painful bite which causes a burning sensation – hence the name “fire ant”, which costs the US millions in veterinary and medical bills every year! They’ve also been known to cause damage to farmer’s crops.
4. Ants are the longest living insects
Unlike some bugs who might only live for days or even hours, the queen ant of one particular species – the Pogonomyrmex Owyheei – can live up to 30 years – so be careful not to stand on her!
5. The ant is one of the world’s strongest creatures in relation to its size
A single ant can carry 50 times its own bodyweight, and they’ll even work together to move bigger objects as a group!
Facts about ants
Ants carry leaves and twigs back to their nests!
6. Ants hold the record for the fastest movement in the animal kingdom
The aptly named species of trap jaw ant, can close its jaws at 140mph, which it uses to kill its prey or injure predators. Image if that bit you on the bum!
7. Ants can be found on every single continent except Antarctica
Ironic really, when you consider the name…
8. Ants are social insects which live in colonies
The colony, also called a formicary, is made up of one or more egg-laying queens and a large amount of female “worker” ants who tend to her, build and maintain the nest, forage for food and and care for the young.
Male ants have wings and their only function is to mate with the queen.
9. Ants don’t have ears, and some of them don’t have eyes!
Ants “listen” by feeling vibrations from the ground through their feet, and eye-less ants such as the driver ant species can communicate by using their antennae!
Plus, they can send chemical signals (called pheremones) released through their body to send messages to other ants! They send out warnings when danger’s near, leave trails of pheremones leading to food sources and even use them to attract a mate – a sort of ant love potion!
10. The largest ant’s nest ever found was over 3,700 miles wide!
Found in Argentina in 2000, the ginormous colony housed 33 ant populations which had merged into one giant supercolony, with millions of nests and billions of workers!
Source:
https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/ ... ant-facts/
Many queens also have wings, although they tend to be pulled off and eaten after mating; they are a source of protein, as mated queens generally don't otherwise eat until fed by the first workers.
Chemical communication by ants is very important to many other animals, as ants are often so dominant in their habitats that a large number of other insects have co-evolved to predate or parasite them. For example, there are insects that chemically mimic ants as camouflage before attacking them. Kleptoparasites do the same thing to pose as larvae, tricking ants into feeding them, sometimes taking the opportunity to eat the actual larvae. As many ants rely so heavily on chemical communication, this tactic can work even on animals that look nothing like ants. To visual animals like humans, it can look bizarre that ants can be fooled into thinking that a huge parasitic fly or worm many times an ant's size is an ant. However, if an ant was able to consider the situation, it might find it odd that a human can fool another human about its identity by wearing a disguise, which wouldn't work on an ant, as it wouldn't change one's smell.
31 May 2022, 7:19 pm
(( How Ants and Aphids Help Each Other ))
Ants and aphids share a well-documented symbiotic relationship, which means they both benefit mutually from their working relationship. Aphids produce a sugary food for the ants, in exchange, ants care for and protect the aphids from predators and parasites.
Aphids Produce a Sugary Meal
Aphids are also known as plant lice, they are very small sap-sucking insects that collect the sugar-rich fluids from host plants. Aphids are also the bane of farmers the whole world over. Aphids are known crop destroyers. The aphids must consume large quantities of a plant to gain adequate nutrition. The aphids then excrete equally large quantities of waste, called honeydew, which in turn becomes a sugar-rich meal for ants.
Ants Turn Into Dairy Farmers
As most people know, where there is sugar, there is bound to be ants. Some ants are so hungry for the aphid honeydew, that they will "milk" the aphids to make them excrete the sugary substance. The ants stroke the aphids with their antennae, stimulating them to release the honeydew. Some aphid species have lost the ability to excrete waste on their own and depend entirely on caretaker ants to milk them.
Aphids in an Ant's Care
Aphid-herding ants make sure aphids stay well-fed and safe. When the host plant is depleted of nutrients, the ants carry their aphids to a new food source. If predatory insects or parasites attempt to harm the aphids, the ants will defend them aggressively. Some ants even go so far as to destroy the eggs of known aphid predators like ladybugs.
Some species of ants continue to care for aphids during winter. The ants carry the aphid eggs to their nests for the winter months. They store the precious aphids where temperatures and humidity are optimal, and move them as needed when conditions in the nest change. In spring, when the aphids hatch, the ants carry them to a host plant to feed.
A well-documented example of the extraordinary mutualistic relationship of a corn root aphid, from the species Aphis middletonii, and their caretaker cornfield ants, Lasius. Corn root aphids, as their name suggests, live and feed on the roots of corn plants. At the end of the growing season, the aphids deposit eggs in the soil where the corn plants have withered. The cornfield ants collect the aphid eggs and store them for the winter. Smartweed is a fast-growing weed that can grow in the spring in the cornfields. Cornfield ants carry the newly hatched aphids to the field and deposit them on the temporary host smartweed plants so they can begin feeding. Once the corn plants are growing, the ants move their honeydew-producing partners to the corn plants, their preferred host plant.
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