Ants

Question 1

wood ants

Answer 1

• complex colonies made of multiple nests
• new queens return to their birth colonies after mating
• workers spray formic acid in defense

Question 2

harvester ants

Answer 2

• Live in hot arid desert
• during the day they collect seeds and take back to their nests.

Question 3

night ants

Answer 3

• live in the same desert as Harvester ants
• feed on wide variety of foods but prefer seeds and forage during night time.
• To prevent the Harvester ants from collecting majority of seeds, night ants block their nest openings at night
• the next day Harvester ants spend most of their time in removing the blockage – less time to collect seeds and more left for night ants

Question 4

mangrove ants

Answer 4

• Live in mangroves near intertidal zones or estuaries that regularly get submerged in water as tides rise and fall.
• When tide recedes, the ants come out to forage, repair nest damage and move their brood at an appropriate temperature.
• When tide rises, ants retreat to their nest, shift their brood away from water.
• such places are difficult to access and survive in and only few other animals occupy them
• safer from predators and avoid competition from other ants species

Question 5

army ants

Answer 5

• millions of ants per colony - do not build nests and are always on the move
• When the queen has to lay eggs, they halt, making a bivouac of their own bodies to protect the queen and brood.
• some forage - they are omnivores and eat smaller animals

Question 6

matabele ants

Answer 6

• Specialized termite hunters who target termite workers
• generally do not destroy the termite colony, so that it can be raided again

Question 7

describe ants, including their typical colony, workers, nest, food, foraging style and other characteristics

Answer 7

• Highly eusocial insects
• Study of ants: Myrmecology
• 21 families and 13000 known existing species

Colony

• 1 or more queens (monogynous or polygynous colonies)
• Workers (a few dozens to millions) – born wingless
• Future reproductives (occasionally) – winged
• Monomorphic, dimorphic or polymorphic
• Caste polymorphism seen in fire ant workers and Queen

Mating

• After mating, the males die while mated queens will shed their wings
  and find a colony.
• (Exception: Queenless Ponerine ants, where
  mated workers acts like a queen)

Nest

• Underground, above ground or arboreal
• Range from very simple to complex
• Single nest or multiple nests per colony
• some like army ants do not build a nest at all

Food and Foraging style

• Other insects (especially their larvae)
• smaller Arthropods or - Bigger arthropods, smaller birds, mammals (Army ants)
• Floral and extrafloral nectar and plant juices
• Seeds and fungus
• Individual or recruiting (antennae, pheromones)

Other characteristics

• Self-organization, distributed intelligence, swarm intelligence, bottom-up control

Self-Organization: Ants build nests, forage, and protect the colony through local interactions and simple rules, without central control.

Distributed Intelligence: Each ant has limited information, but collectively they solve complex problems like finding food or defending the nest.

Swarm Intelligence: The colony adapts to challenges through collective behavior, guided by pheromone trails and local interactions.

Bottom-Up Control: The colony’s overall success comes from the actions of individual ants, each contributing to tasks like foraging, nest building, or defense without needing a top-down leader.