Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified. They are easily identified by their geniculate (elbowed) antennae and the distinctive node-like structure that forms their slender waists.
Berthold Karl HölldoblerBVO is a German zoologist, sociobiologist and evolutionary biologist who studies evolution and social organization in ants. He is the author of several books, including The Ants, for which he and his co-author, E. O. Wilson, received the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction writing in 1991.
Atta is a genus of New World ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae. It contains at least 17 known species.
Leafcutter ants, a non-generic name, are any of 47 species of leaf-chewing ants belonging to the two genera Atta and Acromyrmex. These species of tropical, fungus-growing ants are all endemic to South and Central America, Mexico, and parts of the southern United States. Leafcutter ants can carry twenty times their body weight and cut and process fresh vegetation to serve as the nutritional substrate for their fungal cultivates.
Fungus-growing ants comprise all the known fungus-growing ant species participating in ant–fungus mutualism. They are known for cutting grasses and leaves, carrying them to their colonies' nests, and using them to grow fungus on which they later feed.
Atta sexdens is a species of leafcutter ant belonging to the tribe Attini, native to America, from the southern United States (Texas) to northern Argentina. They are absent from Chile. They cut leaves to provide a substrate for the fungus farms which are their principal source of food. Their societies are among the most complex found in social insects. A. sexdens is an ecologically important species, but also an agricultural pest. Other Atta species, such as Atta texana, Atta cephalotes and others, have similar behavior and ecology.
The banded sugar ant, also known as the sugar ant, is a species of ant native to Australia. A member of the genus Camponotus in the subfamily Formicinae, it was described by German entomologist Wilhelm Ferdinand Erichson in 1842. Its common name refers to the ant's liking for sugar and sweet food, as well as the distinctive orange-brown band that wraps around its gaster.
Atta laevigata is one of about a dozen species of leafcutter ants in the genus Atta, found from Venezuela and south to Paraguay. This species is one of the largest leafcutter species, and can be recognized by the smooth and shining head of the largest workers in a colony. Atta laevigata is known in northern South America as hormiga culona, or as sikisapa in Peru, zompopo de mayo in Central America, bachaco culón in Venezuela, akango in Paraguay, and chicatana in Mexico. In Brazil they are known as "saúva-cabeça-de-vidro", with saúva being the common name for all Atta ants.
Nuptial flight is an important phase in the reproduction of most ant, termite, and some bee species. It is also observed in some fly species, such as Rhamphomyia longicauda.
Tetramorium inquilinum is an ectoparasitic ant found in Europe. It was discovered by Swiss myrmecologist Heinrich Kutter. The species is unusual for lacking a worker caste, the queens and males living entirely off the care of the pavement ant. It has been called "the 'ultimate' parasitic ant" by myrmecologists Edward O. Wilson and Bert Hölldobler.
Acromyrmex is a genus of New World ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae. This genus is found in South America and parts of Central America and the Caribbean Islands, and contains 33 known species. Commonly known as "leafcutter ants" they comprise one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini, along with Atta.
Atta cephalotes is a species of leafcutter ant in the tribe Attini. A single colony of ants can contain up to 5 million members, and each colony has one queen that can live more than 15 years. The colony comprises different castes, known as "task partitioning", and each caste has a different job to do.
Atta colombica is one of 47 species of leafcutter ants. This species is part of the Attini tribe.
Atta vollenweideri, common name chaco leafcutter ant, is a species of leafcutter ant, a New World ant of the subfamily Myrmicinae of the genus Atta. This species is from one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini.
Atta mexicana is a species of leaf-cutter ant, a New World ant of the subfamily Myrmicinae of the genus Atta. This species is from one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini.
Myrmica ruginodis is a species of ant that lives in northern parts of Europe and Asia. It is very similar to M. rubra, but has a more northerly and higher-altitude distribution. Overwintering larvae may become either workers or queen ants, with up to 20 queens living in a colony of up to 2,500 individuals. Two subspecies are recognised, differing in the relative size of the queen.
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.
Trachymyrmex septentrionalis is a species of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is the northernmost species in the tribe Attini.
This is a glossary of terms used in the descriptions of ants.
Attaphila is a genus of cockroaches that live as myrmecophiles in the nests of leaf-cutting ants. They have been suggested to feed on the fungus their host ants farm, or on the cuticular lipids of ant workers. Attaphila are not attacked by host workers because they blend into the colony by mimicking the odour of their hosts ants. Female Attaphila are wingless and males have reduced wings. The cockroaches are phoretic and can disperse to new host colonies by riding on virgin host queens departing on their mating flight and by hitchhiking on leaves carried by leaf-cutter ant foragers returning to their nests, or by following leaf-cutter ant pheromone trails
