Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Herders, Weavers


I took this on a hike through Ein Peskha in the Judeah desert, a nature reserve that holds this rare type of ant, known in Hebrew as the Weaving Ant (there is a different kind of ant known by this name in English), due to it's ability to build silken webs which hold Aphids, the ants' indirect source of food.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Cavern


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The life of an ant starts with an egg, and the sex, female or male, is determined by whether the egg is fertilized or not, respectively.

Entry


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Most queens and male ants have wings, which they drop after the nuptial flight; however wingless queens (ergatoids) and males can occur.

Concealed


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

They can sense with organs located on the antennae, which can detect pheromones (single compounds) and hydrocarbons on the outer layer of the body (a set of different compounds). The latter is highly important for the recognition of nestmates from non-nestmates. Also, they communicate with sound in the form of vibrations moving through the ground.

Gathered



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Ants are distinguished from other insects by the following traits: elbowed antennae; a strongly constricted second abdominal segment forming a distinct node-like petiole. Ants have a wingless worker caste; the presence of a metapleural gland is also distinctive.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Heave


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Molecular clock analysis indicates that ants evolved from other groups of wasps in the Cretaceous period about 140 to 168 million years ago to become the Leptanillinae.

Climb


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Ants are classified as a family, Formicidae, belonging to the order Hymenoptera which also includes sawflies, bees and wasps. Ants are a lineage derived from within the vespoid wasps.

Community


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

As of 2006, there are 11,844 known ant species, most of which reside in hot climates.

Peeking


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Ants have colonized almost every landmass on Earth and can constitute up to 15% of the total animal biomass of a tropical rainforest.

Invasion of Privacy


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Ant colonies are sometimes described as superorganisms because they appear to operate as a single entity.

Nurse


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:


Colonies
of invasive ant species will sometimes work together and form supercolonies, spanning a very wide area of land.

Attack!



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Ants are one of the most successful groups of insects in the animal kingdom and are of particular interest because they are a social insect and form highly organized colonies or nests, sometimes consisting of millions of individuals.