My Living World LW101 Interplay ANT World, Single, Mixed

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a b Moreau CS, Bell CD, Vila R, Archibald SB, Pierce NE (April 2006). "Phylogeny of the ants: diversification in the age of angiosperms". Science. 312 (5770): 101–104. Bibcode: 2006Sci...312..101M. doi: 10.1126/science.1124891. PMID 16601190. S2CID 20729380. Wheeler WM (1910). Ants: Their Structure, Development and Behavior. Columbia University Biological Series. Vol.9. Columbia University Press. p.10. doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.1937. ISBN 978-0-231-00121-2. LCCN 10008253//r88. OCLC 560205. Tschinkel WR (2004). "The nest architecture of the Florida harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex badius". Journal of Insect Science. 4 (21): 21. doi: 10.1093/jis/4.1.21. PMC 528881. PMID 15861237. Most ants are generalist predators, scavengers, and indirect herbivores, [15] but a few have evolved specialised ways of obtaining nutrition. It is believed that many ant species that engage in indirect herbivory rely on specialized symbiosis with their gut microbes [117] to upgrade the nutritional value of the food they collect [118] and allow them to survive in nitrogen poor regions, such as rainforest canopies. [119] Leafcutter ants ( Atta and Acromyrmex) feed exclusively on a fungus that grows only within their colonies. They continually collect leaves which are taken to the colony, cut into tiny pieces and placed in fungal gardens. Ergates specialise in related tasks according to their sizes. The largest ants cut stalks, smaller workers chew the leaves and the smallest tend the fungus. Leafcutter ants are sensitive enough to recognise the reaction of the fungus to different plant material, apparently detecting chemical signals from the fungus. If a particular type of leaf is found to be toxic to the fungus, the colony will no longer collect it. The ants feed on structures produced by the fungi called gongylidia. Symbiotic bacteria on the exterior surface of the ants produce antibiotics that kill bacteria introduced into the nest that may harm the fungi. [120] Navigation An ant trail

Schmidt JO, Blum MS, Overal WL (1983). "Hemolytic activities of stinging insect venoms". Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology. 1 (2): 155–160. doi: 10.1002/arch.940010205. Baroni-Urbani C, Boyan GS, Blarer A, Billen J, Musthak Ali TM (1994). "A novel mechanism for jumping in the Indian ant Harpegnathos saltator (Jerdon) (Formicidae, Ponerinae)". Experientia. 50: 63–71. doi: 10.1007/BF01992052. S2CID 42304237.

Ants are distinct in their morphology from other insects in having geniculate (elbowed) antennae, metapleural glands, and a strong constriction of their second abdominal segment into a node-like petiole. The head, mesosoma, and metasoma are the three distinct body segments (formally tagmata). The petiole forms a narrow waist between their mesosoma ( thorax plus the first abdominal segment, which is fused to it) and gaster (abdomen less the abdominal segments in the petiole). The petiole may be formed by one or two nodes (the second alone, or the second and third abdominal segments). [36] Tergosternal fusion, when the tergite and sternite of a segment fuse together, can occur partly or fully on the second, third and fourth abdominal segment and is used in identification. Fourth abdominal tergosternal fusion was formerly used as character that defined the poneromorph subfamilies, Ponerinae and relatives within their clade, but this is no longer considered a synapomorphic character. [37] a b Franks NR, Resh VH, Cardé RT, eds. (2003). Encyclopedia of Insects. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 29–32. ISBN 978-0-12-586990-4. Thomas, Philip (2007). "Pest Ants in Hawaii". Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR) . Retrieved 6 July 2008. Vellely AC (2001). "Foraging at army ant swarms by fifty bird species in the highlands of Costa Rica" (PDF). Ornitologia Neotropical. 12: 271–275. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022 . Retrieved 8 June 2008.

In the colonies of a few ant species, there are physical castes—workers in distinct size-classes, called minor, median, and major ergates. Often, the larger ants have disproportionately larger heads, and correspondingly stronger mandibles. These are known as macrergates while smaller workers are known as micrergates. [44] Although formally known as dinergates, such individuals are sometimes called "soldier" ants because their stronger mandibles make them more effective in fighting, although they still are workers and their "duties" typically do not vary greatly from the minor or median workers. In a few species, the median workers are absent, creating a sharp divide between the minors and majors. [45] Weaver ants, for example, have a distinct bimodal size distribution. [46] [47] Some other species show continuous variation in the size of workers. The smallest and largest workers in Carebara diversa show nearly a 500-fold difference in their dry weights. [48] Kennedy CH (1951). "Myrmecological technique. IV. Collecting ants by rearing pupae". The Ohio Journal of Science. 51 (1): 17–20. hdl: 1811/3802. Gaul AT (1951). "A Glossary of Terms and Phrases Used in the Study of Social Insects". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 44 (3): 473–484. doi: 10.1093/aesa/44.3.473. ISSN 1938-2901. Deen MY (1990). "Islamic Environmental Ethics, Law, and Society" (PDF). In Engel JR, Engel JG (eds.). Ethics of Environment and Development. Bellhaven Press, London. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2011.The word ant and the archaic word emmet [5] are derived from ante, emete of Middle English, which come from ǣmette of Old English; these are all related to Low Saxon e(e)mt, empe and varieties ( Old Saxon emeta) and to German Ameise ( Old High German āmeiza). All of these words come from West Germanic * ǣmaitjōn, and the original meaning of the word was "the biter" (from Proto-Germanic * ai-, "off, away" + * mait- "cut"). [6] [7] During the Cretaceous period, a few species of primitive ants ranged widely on the Laurasian supercontinent (the Northern Hemisphere). Their representation in the fossil record is poor, in comparison to the populations of other insects, representing only about 1% of fossil evidence of insects in the era. Ants became dominant after adaptive radiation at the beginning of the Paleogene period. By the Oligocene and Miocene, ants had come to represent 20–40% of all insects found in major fossil deposits. Of the species that lived in the Eocene epoch, around one in 10 genera survive to the present. Genera surviving today comprise 56% of the genera in Baltic amber fossils (early Oligocene), and 92% of the genera in Dominican amber fossils (apparently early Miocene). [14] [18] The Argentine ant is an invasive species in Europe. Once the species landed on European soil, it formed two super colonies, with the larger colony comprising the largest cooperative unit ever recorded! Other large ant colonies include: Rissing SW (1984). "Replete caste production and allometry of workers in the Honey Ant, Myrmecocystus mexicanus Wesmael (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)". Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. 57 (2): 347–350.