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Sesame is a plant in the genus Sesamum, also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds, which grow in pods. World production in 2018 was 6 million metric tons, with Sudan, Myanmar, and India as the largest producers.
Paraponera clavata, commonly known as the bullet ant, is a species of ant named for its extremely painful sting. It inhabits humid lowland rainforests in Central and South America.
Ponerinae, the ponerine ants, is a subfamily of ants in the Poneromorph subfamilies group, with about 1,600 species in 47 extant genera, including Dinoponera gigantea - one of the world's largest species of ant. Mated workers have replaced the queen as the functional egg-layers in several species of ponerine ants. In such queenless species, the reproductive status of workers can only be determined through ovarian dissections.
Tapinoma is a genus of ants that belongs to the subfamily Dolichoderinae. The genus currently comprises 74 described species distributed worldwide in tropical and temperate regions. Members of are generalized foragers, nesting in a wide variety of habitats, ranging from grasslands, open fields, woodlands, to inside buildings. The majority of species nest in the ground under objects such as stones or tree logs, other species build nests under bark of logs and stumps, in plant cavities, insect galls or refuse piles.
The dwarf honey bee, Apis florea, is one of two species of small, wild honey bees of southern and southeastern Asia. It has a much wider distribution than its sister species, Apis andreniformis. First identified in the late 18th century, Apis florea is unique for its morphology, foraging behavior and defensive mechanisms like making a piping noise. Apis florea have open nests and small colonies, which makes them more susceptible to predation than cavity nesters with large numbers of defensive workers. These honey bees are important pollinators and therefore commodified in countries like Cambodia.
Abutilon indicum is a small shrub in the family Malvaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions. This plant is a valuable medicinal and ornamental plant, its roots and leaves being used for curing fevers. It has been widely introduced outside of its native range, and is considered invasive on certain tropical islands.
Amblyopone is a genus of 10 species of ants, found in Australia, New Caledonia, New Guinea and New Zealand. Ants of this genus possess the gamergate, meaning workers are able to reproduce within a colony lacking a queen.
Diacamma is a genus of queenless ants belonging to the subfamily Ponerinae. It is distributed from India to Australia and contains about 24 species.
Oroxylum indicum is a species of flowering plant belonging to the monotypic genus Oroxylum and the family Bignoniaceae, and is commonly called Indian trumpet tree, oroxylum, Indian trumpet flower, broken bones, Indian caper, scythe tree or tree of Damocles. It can reach a height of 18 metres (59 ft). Various segments of the tree are used in traditional medicine, where it is known as Shyonaka or Sona Patha.
Monogyny is a specialised mating system in which a male can only mate with one female throughout his lifetime but the female may mate with more than one male. In this system the males generally provide no paternal care. In many spider species that are monogynous, the males have two copulatory organs, which allows them to mate a maximum of twice throughout their lifetime. As is commonly seen in honeybees, ants and certain spider species, a male may put all his energy into a single copulation, knowing that this will lower his overall fitness. During copulation monogynous males have adapted to cause self genital damage or even death to increase their chances of paternity.
A gamergate is a mated worker ant that can reproduce sexually, i.e., lay fertilized eggs that will develop as females. In the vast majority of ant species, workers are sterile and gamergates are restricted to taxa where the workers have a functional sperm reservoir ('spermatheca'). In some species, gamergates reproduce in addition to winged queens, while in other species the queen caste has been completely replaced by gamergates. In gamergate species, all workers in a colony have similar reproductive potentials, but as a result of physical interactions, a dominance hierarchy is formed and only one or a few top-ranking workers can mate and produce eggs. Subsequently however, aggression is no longer needed as gamergates secrete chemical signals that inform the other workers of their reproductive status in the colony.
Dinoponera is a strictly South American genus of ant in the subfamily Ponerinae, commonly called tocandiras or giant Amazonian ants. These ants are generally less well known than Paraponera clavata, the bullet ant, yet Dinoponera females may surpass 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) in total body length, making them among the largest ants in the world.
Ooceraea biroi, the clonal raider ant, is a queenless clonal ant in the genus Ooceraea. Native to the Asian mainland, this species has become invasive on tropical and subtropical islands throughout the world. Unlike most ants, which have reproductive queens and mostly nonreproductive workers, all individuals in a O. biroi colony reproduce clonally via thelytokous parthenogenesis. Like most dorylines, O. biroi are obligate myrmecophages and raid nests of other ant species to feed on the brood.
Dinoponera quadriceps is a queenless species of ants in the subfamily Ponerinae. The species, known from Brazil, is similar to Dinoponera mutica and uses venom for subduing large live prey and defense. Its venom could be of use to the pharmaceutical industry.
Ponerini is a tribe of Ponerinae ants with 46 genera and 6 extinct genera.
Diacamma ceylonense, also known as Sri Lanka queenless ant, is a species of ant of the subfamily Ponerinae. It is a widespread species.
Diacamma rugosum, also known as the Bornean queenless ant, is a species of ant of the subfamily Ponerinae. It is found in many countries throughout Southeast Asia. 20 subspecies are recognized.
Pranburia is a monotypic genus of Southeast Asian ant mimicking corinnid sac spiders containing the single species, Pranburia mahannopi. Christa L. Deeleman-Reinhold described the first male in 1993, and the first female in 2001. It has only been found in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Malaysia. The species is named after Narong Mahannop, one of the collectors of the holotype, and the genus is named after the Pranburi Province, where the male holotype was collected.
