Arthropod phylum; Class, Insecta; Order, Hymenoptera

Identification feature

Appearance (morphology)

The ant's body is obviously divided into three parts: head, chest and abdomen. (The thin waist is actually inside the abdomen, so the part of the abdomen behind the waist is called epigastric pain. ) The waist can be composed of a short section or two sections, depending on the species.

Ants are social insects, living in a group consisting of one or several queens and many worker ants. The queen ant usually stays deep in the nest and is very safe. Most of the ants you see are worker ants, and these are females. According to different species, workers may have similar body shapes or different body shapes.

Ants often appear in dark or khaki colors. Different species are black, earth red, light brown and basic brown.

Warning: There are so many kinds of ants that it is difficult to generalize. Therefore, if your collected ants don't fully meet these generalizations, please refer to Ant (H? And/or local experts.

Adult men and women

When the ant colony breeds, new queens and males may be found in the ant colony. These are "flying ants" with two pairs of wings. Males usually have small heads, big eyes, big breasts and a pair of hooks at the end of their abdomen. Once they fly (and mate), males don't live long. After mating, the new queen will break her wings and never fly again. Without wings, they can usually be distinguished from workers by bigger body size, bigger chest and bigger abdomen. All the workers are women.

Immature (different stages)

Ant larvae are white, similar to larvae. They don't have legs, and they don't walk much. You can usually see a big black stomach through their epidermis. Ant pupae look like white adult ants, and their legs and tentacles cling to their bodies. In some species, larvae spin silk and pupae are in cocoons. Adult ants that have just emerged are usually paler than old ants. It may take several days for them to reach the final color.

Natural history

food

Most ants that are easy to raise in the classroom are generalists, eating all kinds of small insects they catch, dead insects they happen to find, nectar, or honeydew. They need a balance between carbohydrates and protein. Protein is especially needed for the queen bee to lay eggs and larval growth.

habitat

Most ants live in soil. Some ants, such as carpenter ants, also live in wood (they dig wood, but they don't actually eat it). Some ants live in caves inside plants, such as acorns, branches and galls.

carnivore

All kinds of reptiles or amphibians (especially toads and lizards), spiders and other insects such as bugs and other ants may prey on worker ants. Bats and birds, occasionally, people catch and kill or eat flying males and females.

Interesting behavior

Because ants are social animals, many behaviors they show remind us of our family and society. For example, worker ants take care of their larvae by feeding and cleaning them. Ants can communicate with each other. Among other functions, they can communicate directions (where food is) and give an alarm.

Impact on the ecosystem

active

In the world, ants are one of the most important predators of small invertebrates (including other insects). Leaf-cutting ants in tropical America are the most important herbivores (plant consumers), surpassing herbivorous mammals. In many ecosystems, ants are important disseminators of their harvested seeds. In desert areas, they are one of the main consumers of seeds. No matter where ants live, they will turn over the soil and aerate it, which is as much or more as earthworms (depending on the specific ecosystem). (For more information, see H? Lldobler and Wilson's book).

Negative; Negative; Negative; negative

Some ant species are considered pests, because they live in and protect the territory we think belongs to us, or because they want to consume the resources we need. For example, leaf-cutting ants compete with us for crops in tropical America. Fire ants colonize wet grasslands (including lawns! ) with amazing ease. Woodworking ants adapted to living in dead wood think that dead wood in houses is prey, especially in wet places. In order to find suitable food, some opportunistic ant species will flood the kitchen, storage room and pet food area. In addition, some ants (like their relatives wasps and bees) have strong stings. Like bees, some people are allergic to ant bites.

Collect live insects

Where to find it?

Ants are found under logs, especially rotten logs that crack easily. In some parts of America, ants live in acorns or branches on the ground. In warm months, catch the new queen near the porch light. If you are lucky, you may see a new queen ant before they find a place to dig. Worker ants and vertical dirt ant farms can be obtained from: Carolina Biological Supply Company, Ward? American Biology, Connecticut Valley Biological Supply Co., Ltd., Nasko Science, Science Toolkit and Northern Laboratory. Some states (AZ, HI and TN) restrict the import of different kinds of ants and require you to apply for permission from USDA.

http://insected.arizona.edu/antinfo.htm