The pristine tropical nature of the Amazon was, is and will be a subject of inexhaustible interest not only for botanists and zoologists, but also for tourists who prefer active recreation with elements of extreme sports. Traveling through these virgin forests, you can fully satisfy your curiosity and passion for studying the endless secrets of living nature.
The fauna of the Amazon is characterized by wide diversity (this is greatly favored by the humid tropical climate): numerous representatives of exotic species of animals and birds live here. However, few people know that in percentage terms, the leading place in the number of representatives of the species inhabiting this area is occupied by insects, most of which are ants. Their laws of existence and mechanisms of interaction with the environment are of interest to researchers and adventurers traveling in the Amazon.
To list and give a detailed description of all representatives of tropical ants requires a lot of time and effort, so below is a brief summary of the main characteristics of the most common types of ants that a tourist who has decided to fully enjoy the beauty and grandeur of the nature of the Amazon will certainly encounter on the way.
Bullet ant (paraponera clavata)
It differs from its relatives in body size (can reach 2.5 centimeters) and the pain of the bite , which is how it earned its name. However, length is not the only characteristic that distinguishes it from other ants. In addition to everything, it has a fairly massive structure; on the front of its body there is a pair of long horns with blunt ends. Also, yellow hairs grow on the forelimbs, and in the eye area there are peculiar niches to which antennae are attached. Their habitat is the base of trees, so these insects mainly come into the tourist’s field of view when they move in endless streams along the tree trunk in search of food.
Features of reproduction
The reproductive function of the colony is assigned to the queen uterus. Tropical nomad ants have one queen, while other species may have several. The large winged female mates with the male during her first flight. Until the end of her life, she uses up the stored sperm. The adult fertilized queen sheds her wings. She is always protected by working ants. During movement, the cylindrical elongated abdomen of the female is slender. As hundreds of thousands of eggs mature, it swells. By the beginning of the stationary phase, the larvae turn into cocoons and do not require nutrition. All the meat obtained by the hunters is given to the queen.
Ants are hymenopteran insects with complete metamorphosis. This means that their life begins with the egg phase, then the larva emerges. Ants turn into adults after pupation. The formation of eggs begins during the period of sedentary life. The fertility of a female is 200-300 thousand pieces. The embryonic period lasts up to three weeks. By the time of the new migration, larvae emerge from the eggs.
This process is synchronized by the development of pupae; adults emerge from the cocoons of the previous clutch. To feed the larvae, the colony sets off. By the time they pupate, the column finds a place to stay.
Once a year, the queen makes a special clutch from which reproductive females and males emerge. As they age, they leave the family and form their own colonies.
Ponerines (odontomachus)
The maximum length of these ants is 1.5 cm. Their main striking species feature is a massive hammer-shaped jaw , which is a formidable trap for the ponerine’s hunting objects. Despite their leisurely plasticity, their mandibles (upper jaws) slam shut with incredible speed, leaving no chance for prey.
PACYHONDYLA VILLOSA
Belongs to the ponerine subfamily. This tropical ant species can be confused with a bullet ant. PACYHONDYLA VILLOSA are not so large, however, the effect of their bite unites these ants with their “relatives”. PACYHONDYLA VILLOSA chooses dry tree trunks and areas with moist soil as its habitat. Their body is colored red and black, and is covered with a thick layer of hairs that have a golden hue.
PACYHONDYLA APICALIS
A distinctive feature of representatives of this species is hunting alone. Their average length is 1-1.2 cm. Their body is dark gray in color, and their antennae are bright yellow. This unusual color combination makes the PACYHONDYLA APICALIS ants look like wasps, and their peculiar “hopping” gait only adds to the similarity.
GIGANTIOPS DESTRUCTOR
The external resemblance of this ant to the representative of the tropical species described above is striking: size, color, movement patterns. They are distinguished from each other by the length of their limbs (in GIGANTIOPS DESTRUCTOR they are larger) and the shape of their eyes (large, located on the sides of the head). This is one of the most peaceful ants - it is absolutely incapable of stinging.
Description
Several related groups of true ants share a similar lifestyle called the nomadic ant syndrome. Their characteristic feature is regular migrations. Numerous colonies of insects, reaching several million, move within 1-2 weeks. They carry eggs, larvae, and the queen with them. Nomadic individuals do not build anthills; by interlocking bodies, they build a nest for numerous family members and the queen.
Adult
The body of an adult ant consists of three sections: head, chest (mesosoma) and abdomen. The stalk connecting the thoracic segments and the abdomen is called petiole. The chitinous exoskeleton protects and supports the insect's body. On the ant's head there are antennae consisting of 8-10 segments. These are sensory organs that detect vibrations and chemical odors.
Interesting fact. Most wandering ants do not have visual organs or they are greatly reduced. Blind insects navigate in space using their antennae. They communicate with each other by releasing pheromones.
The upper jaws of mandible ants vary in size, but are always well developed. In working individuals, they are designed to carry eggs and larvae and food. For soldiers, this is a powerful weapon. Strong mandibles help tear apart enemies. Insects have 3 pairs of legs; their paws have claws that help them move along a vertical surface. The abdomen of some species ends in a sting.
Interesting fact. Soldier ants of the genus Dorylus do not open their closed jaws even after death.
Communication system
There are 75 glands in the ant's body; they secrete various substances, including pheromones and repellents. Nomadic species have dozens of special signal odors produced in various situations. With the help of pheromones, scouts indicate the direction of movement of the entire column and report the location of the prey.
Ant hierarchy
The nomad ant family consists of hundreds of thousands or millions of individuals. They all obey a strict hierarchy and act as a single harmonious organism. The basis of a large colony is made up of worker ants. These are infertile females. Specialized groups are formed from them: workers, foragers, scouts, soldiers. Males are several times larger than representatives of the working caste. The main figure of the family is the queen. She is the only female involved in giving birth to new members of the colony. The queen's lifespan is 15-20 years.
A significant part of the family is brood - eggs, larvae, pupae. The workers take care of him. In the family, responsibilities are clearly divided, each insect is busy with its own work. A highly organized colony is capable of building bridges and nests from the bodies of ants, resisting enemies, and hunting.
Campomotus (wood borer)
Representatives of this species densely inhabit the rainforests of the Amazon.
The length of these ants can vary from 3 to 15 mm. Their food is plant sap, or an insect that also likes to feast on it. They earned their second name due to their ability to inhabit the thickness of tree trunks. Campomotus ants have a rather interesting body structure - a thin waist separates the thoracic part from the rounded abdomen. Their color comes in two types: those at night are yellow, and those that are daytime are dark brown. Golden Campomotus (Camponotus sericeiventris)
The insect has a very bright appearance: its black body is covered with a layer of shiny hairs, which sparkle with golden or silver tints in the sun. He has a rather interesting gait - he moves his limbs while pressing his abdomen to the chest part of his body.
Carpenter ant (Camponotus atriceps)
These are brown ants with unusually long limbs. Among ants that are active at night, this species is the most common. Their body is densely covered with a layer of hard hairs.
Dacetone Armigerum
Their habitat is tree trunks, where, settling, ants of this species form thousands of families. Their body has a light amber hue. The massive structure of the hammer-shaped jaw and three spines located on their body indicate active predatory behavior.
Classification
There are three subfamilies of tropical nomad ants in the world. The main classification occurs according to habitat:
- Aenictus are small to medium-sized insects common in Asia, Australia and Africa. Working individuals are yellow-brown in color, their body length does not exceed 3.5 mm. Males and females of the genus are much larger, reaching 25 mm. Differences are also manifested in the anatomical structure - in working ants the stalk between the chest and abdomen consists of two segments, in males and females it has one. The subfamily unites about 180 species.
- Dorylinae - main habitat regions are tropical Asia and Africa. The large group includes 800 species. The most famous genus is Dorylus. Depending on the hierarchy, ants vary significantly in size. Workers 3 mm, soldiers 13 mm, males 30 mm, females 50 mm. The number of individuals in one migrating colony is about 20 million.
- Ecitoninae - insects are found in the New World in the United States, the southern border of their habitat is Argentina and Chile. American raptors spend most of their lives traveling and hunting. During migration, places in the column are clearly allocated. Worker ants move in the middle and bear offspring. Soldiers on the sides protect their relatives from enemy attacks. The color of the imago ranges from brown to black.
Large-headed ants (Pheidole)
Their main difference from other species lies in the name - the gigantic size of the head in comparison with the small body.
The habitat of big-headed ants is the forest floor. Representatives of Pheidole are among the most numerous inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest. Leafcutter ant (Acromyrmex and Atta)
Red-colored insects with long limbs usually catch the eye of travelers carrying leaf particles that serve as food for the fungi that leaf cutters feed on.
Nomadic ant (Eciton burchellii)
Their body size reaches 1 cm in length. These insects have a peculiar structure of the upper jaws - in the form of forceps. Nomads regularly carry out raids, their victims include:
- arthropods
- small vertebrates
Despite the fact that numerous stories from impressionable tourists that Eciton burchellii can “gnaw” a person, to put it mildly, are at odds with reality, it is still better not to step on places where these insects accumulate, so as not to experience the very painful effect of their bite. .
Big ants for a beginner
People who are superficially familiar with ants present these insects as something small, insignificant, and unworthy of attention. Goosebumps, ants - that's what they call them. Indeed, many representatives of the Earth’s myrmecofauna are not large in size. And this is justified: it is easier for kids to remain unnoticed and penetrate anywhere, and their apparent weakness is compensated by their numbers: a crowd of nimble little fighters easily defeats any large insect.
But for many anti-keepers, it is the size of an individual that is the decisive factor when choosing pets. Lasius seem too small, only 4-5 mm. What about the reapers? Large workers Messor muticus (structor) can reach almost 1 cm! They look impressive against the backdrop of lasius, myrmica and tetramorium. But such individuals appear in the family late and in small numbers. What to do if you want really big ants? Let's look at these.
- Domestic ants.
Large ants are found in our country. These are woodborers - Camponotus herculeanus, Camponotus ligniperda, Camponotus vagus and several other similar species. The first species among them is considered the champion: the length of the soldiers is about 17 mm! It is not for nothing that this camponotus received the name in honor of the ancient Greek hero Hercules (Hercules).
Camponotuses carve out homes in dry wood using powerful jaws. Their families rarely reach more than 5,000 individuals and develop slowly. The main factor that makes our camponotuses unpopular for keeping is wintering. The period when ants do not reproduce, sit passively in the nest and need low temperatures can take 3-6 months! Not everyone will decide to part with their pets resting in the refrigerator for six months. Camponotus need to be prepared for wintering for a long time and carefully in order for it to be successful. Even so, ants can suddenly enter summer diapause, spending another couple of months in it.
- Tropical ants.
The hot climate of the tropics does not force ants to hibernate; they can develop all year round. There is also plenty of food, which is why the bulk of the really big ants are concentrated there. For example, Dinomyrmex and Dinoponera with a body size of 30 mm. But they are very rare and, as a result, very expensive. Yes, and very demanding in terms of conditions of detention. However, there are large tropical ants that are more often kept at home. Let's meet them!
Camponotus singularis is an Asian camponotus and one of the largest available commercially. The size of the soldiers reaches 20 mm.
These giants live in the soil and therefore require high humidity in the nest. Despite their size, ants are timid and slow, preferring to collect dead insects. They look beautiful and impressive, but tenderness, demandingness and the fact that queens sometimes die for no apparent reason do not contribute to the popularity of singularis.
Pseudoneoponera rufipes is also a guest from Asia, a large ant of the subfamily Ponerinae. If in Camponotus singularis only the soldiers are two centimeters long (and the workers are about 1 cm), then all the pseudoneoponeras are 15-18 mm.
Although their families are small (no more than 200-300 individuals), the stern appearance of even 50 huge ants in a formicarium already evokes respect. Pseudoneoponeras have a long stinger; they never use it in an attack, attacking victims with strong mandibles or collecting dead insects. In defense, they hiss and release foam from the end of their abdomen (like from a fire extinguisher), which is why they are called “firefighter ants.” They are more forgiving than Camponotus singularis, but still require careful humidity control and frequent feeding of a variety of insects.
Harpegnathos venator is a desirable object for those who are not particularly familiar with this ant, but already dream of owning one. Harpegnathos is comparable in size to the previous species, but more graceful.
They have a simply fantastic appearance: huge, keen eyes and long mandibles that resemble tweezers. These are solitary hunters who stalk their prey for a long time, carefully sneak up on it, and then rush forward, grab and sting, paralyzing the victim with strong poison. But not only the danger of stings awaits unwary new myrmekeepers: Harpegnathos venator needs a special hydration regime, which is determined intuitively. Their cocoons should be kept in almost dry chambers, and the rest of the brood should be kept in damp ones. The slightest disturbance causes the death of the pupae and their consumption by adult ants. In addition, harpegnathos need frequent and varied feeding.
3.What big ants should a beginner get??
There is an alternative that does not look so impressive, but is clearly superior to the usual trifle. These are, for example, unpretentious brothers of the complex singularis in the genus Camponotus - Camponotus parius and Camponotus nicobarensis. Workers of these species will not get lost in the farm: their size is up to 10 mm, and soldiers - up to 13! Ants are nimble, active and inquisitive. If you provide them with a spacious arena with decorations (all 4ants formicariums provide plenty of space for a landscape designer), they will explore it regularly.
Camponotus parius has a discreet, dull color at first glance, but in good lighting you will notice how thousands of tiny hairs on the body shimmer with silver and gold, creating a pattern.
Camponotus nicobarensis is even more beautiful, with a variegated cover of red and orange contrasting with black stripes. Older workers are darker, while younger soldiers display a bright red head.
These two Asian camponotuses are very hardy, do not need diapause, heating or careful humidity control, and will happily accept any food crop (the Turkmen cockroach, for example, is perfect for them) and sugar syrup. What you need if you don’t want to get ordinary small ants!
It turns out that the larger the ant, the more difficult it is to keep. Therefore, we would not recommend that beginners rush into making a choice. It is better to gain experience on simple species, and then think about the giants of the ant world.
"Tropical Ant" from the echidna's 6-letter menu
[Home] T
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- T is the first letter
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- P - third letter
- M is the fourth letter
- I is the fifth letter
- T - sixth letter
What a State Duma deputy represents 12 letters
Who helped Salvador Dali create the “suit for 2045” 4 letters
termite
I m. see termites II m. A mixture of powdered aluminum or magnesium with oxides of some metals, when ignited, a very high temperature is formed (which is used in technology or in military affairs).
termite
I see termites II (from the Greek th?rm? - heat, heat) see also. thermite, thermite A powdery mixture of aluminum (less commonly magnesium) with oxides of certain metals, which, when ignited, produces a very high temperature (used in technology for welding, smelting metals and in warfare as an incendiary substance)
termite
I m. see termites II m. A mixture of powdered aluminum or magnesium with oxides of some metals, when ignited, a very high temperature is formed (which is used in technology or in military affairs).
termite
I see termites II (from the Greek th?rm? - heat, heat) see also. thermite, thermite A powdery mixture of aluminum (less commonly magnesium) with oxides of certain metals, which, when ignited, produces a very high temperature (used in technology for welding, smelting metals and in warfare as an incendiary substance)
tropical
I adj. 1) rel. with noun tropics, associated with it 2) Peculiar to the tropics, characteristic of them. 3) Located in the tropics. II adj. 1) rel. with noun trope associated with him 2) Peculiar to the trope, characteristic of him.
tropical
see tropic; -oh, -oh. Tropical zone. T-th forests. T-th heat. T-showers. T diseases. Tropical year (astro; the period between two passages of the Sun through the vernal equinox)
ant
A small insect of the suborder of stinging Hymenoptera, living in large communities.
ant
-vya; m. see also. ant, murash, ant A small insect that lives in large communities. Forest ant. Red ants. Hardworking ant. An ant climbed onto a flower. The ants blocked the entrance to the anthill. Work like an ant.
menu
I uncl. Wed 1) Selection of foods, dishes for breakfast, lunch, etc. 2) A sheet of paper with a list of dishes (in a dining room, restaurant, at a dinner party, etc.) offered to visitors or guests. II unclass. Wed A list of operating modes and programs offered to the user, displayed on the monitor screen to select the desired option (in computer science).
menu
unchanged; Wed (French menu - small, detailed) 1) Selection of dishes, dishes for lunch, breakfast, etc. The morning menu includes two eggs and a glass of coffee. 2) A sheet with a list of food and drinks offered (in the dining room, restaurant, cafe); map 4) The waiter handed over the menu. View menu. 3) tech. A list of possible options for working with something. device or computer program displayed on the display screen. Call up the menu to set the timer.
echidna
I A small mammal of the monotreme family, whose back is covered with sharp spines, bearing its young in a pouch located on its belly. II 1) A large poisonous snake of the asp family, common in Australia and New Guinea. 2) Any poisonous snake. III m. and f. 1. up-down An angry, sarcastic person. 2) Used as a reprimanding or abusive word.
echidna
I -s; and. (Greek ech?dna) 1) a) Large poisonous Australian snake of the family. asps. b) from; outdated Poisonous snake. 2) decomposition About an evil, sarcastic, treacherous person. And what kind of echidna are you? How much evil did this echidna do. 3) In Greek mythology: a monster is half woman, half snake. II -s; and. A small marsupial mammal of the oviparous order, whose back is covered with sharp spines. The echidna looks like a large hedgehog.
snide
1) Characterized by evil mockery; sarcastic (about a person). 2) Full of causticity, malice.
snide
-aya, -oe; -den, -dna, -bottom. see also sarcastically, sarcastically, sarcastically, sarcastically a) Characterized by evil mockery, the desire to hurt, prick; evil, cunning, sarcastic. A malicious and treacherous person. E-note. b) ott. Expressing malice. E-th mockery. Sad tone.
