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The name army ant (or legionary ant or marabunta [1]) is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limited area.
Eciton burchellii is a species of New World army ant in the genus Eciton. This species performs expansive, organized swarm raids that give it the informal name, Eciton army ant. [2] This species displays a high degree of worker polymorphism. Sterile workers are of four discrete size-castes: minors, medias, porters (sub-majors), and soldiers ...
There are conopid flies (the entire genus Stylogaster) that are obligate associates of army ant raids, and females lay their eggs on insects (mostly crickets and roaches) flushed into the open by the ants, and there are also some tachinid flies that are somewhat similar in behavior. There are ant-mimicking staphylinid beetles, shaped like the ...
Local arthropod densities remain stable even in the presence of a foraging colony of the ants, in sharp contrast to the decimation a colony of typical army ants imposes on local arthropods.2 Above ground foraging driver and army ants have been observed collecting upwards of 90,000 insects per day in their raids, a number which Even juvenile ...
All species within the three army ant subfamilies have similar behavioral and reproductive traits such as, obligate collective foraging, nomadism, and highly modified queens called dichthadiigynes. [6] Aenictogiton or army ants never forage or hunt alone, they instead use leaderless, co-operative mass of ants to overwhelm their prey all at once.
Carebara species have permanent nests, while real army ants have only temporary nests (Dorylus) or form a bivouac with their own bodies (Eciton). Colonies of real army ants have only one queen, so when she dies, the workers may try to join another colony, or the rest of the colony also dies; Carebara colonies can have many (up to 16) queens.
The reason for this behavior is the fact that army ants do not have a physical nest. The queens are thus absolutely dependent on workers to protect them. Another variation is found in species with multi-queen colonies, such as Solenopsis invicta .
His "Studies on Army Ants in Panama," published the next year, provided new insight into their behavior. He discovered that these ants operate on a 36-day cycle consisting of a 16-day nomadic pattern followed by a 20-day stationary phase. In 1934 he reported that ants follow a particular pattern when moving into new territory and that raids by ...