This is a glossary of terms used in the descriptions of ants.
device used to extract ants and other living organism from soil and leaf-litter samples; a sample is placed on a screen with a funnel beneath, and a heat source above; the drying forces the animals downwards, where they fall into a collecting jar, usually filled with alcohol [1]
in plants, tiny chamber produced by plants to house arthropods [4]
living or foraging above the ground [1]
denotes any intercaste female morphologically intermediate between workers and (winged) queens, not restricted to the reproductive caste; formerly often used interchangeably to refer to ergatoid queens [5]
a wingless (dealate) reproductive adult ant, anatomically intermediate in form between workers and winged queens or males [5]
colony founding by a single queen [6]
subterranean, living below the ground, or at least beneath the leaf litter, stones or dead bark [1]
"parasitogenic" phenotype of worker ants, caused by mermithid nematodes [7]
"parasitogenic" phenotype of gynes, caused by mermithid nematodes [7]
queen mating with a single male [8]
colony housing arrangement in a single nest [9]
nest arrangement containing a single queen [6]
nest arrangement of a population of ants consisting of multiple independent colonies ( monodomous or polydomous ) [9]
domatium housed by ants [4]
trail of chemical compounds secreted by ants to guide nestmates to a target (usually food) [14]
colony founding by multiple queens [6]
queen mating with multiple males [8]
colony arrangement housed in multiple separate nests [9]
nest arrangement containing multiple queens [6]
single queen founding a colony ( haplometrosis ), with no additional queens incorporated into the colony [6]
colony founding by multiple queens ( pleometrosis ), with more than one queen surviving [6]
colony founding by multiple queens ( pleometrosis ), a single queen survive [6]
colony founding by a single queen ( haplometrosis ), with additional queens incorporated into the colony at a later stage, usually by adoption or fusion with other colonies [6]
recruitment method used by some species of ants, where one ant leads a single, closely following nestmate to a target (usually food) [14]
a population of ants inhabiting a single large polydomous colony [9]
device used to extract ants and other living organism from soil and leaf-litter samples; a sample is placed inside an inner bag constructed from cloth mesh, which is suspended in a second bag containing a funnel leading to a collecting jar, usually filled with alcohol; the device is hung up in the air and passively extracts escaping animals [1]