Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Colonies of army ants are large compared to the colonies of other Formicidae. Colonies can have over 15 million workers and can transport 3000 prey (items) per hour during the raid period. [14] [20] When army ants forage, the trails that are formed can be over 20 m (66 ft) wide and over 100 m (330 ft) long. [20]
Eciton army ants have a bi-phasic lifestyle in which they alternate between a nomadic phase and a statary phase. In the statary phase, which lasts about three weeks, the ants remain in the same location every night. They arrange their own living bodies into a nest, protecting the queen and her eggs in the middle.
Ant colonies have a complex social structure. Ants’ jobs are determined and can be changed by age. As ants grow older their jobs move them farther from the queen, or center of the colony. Younger ants work within the nest protecting the queen and young. Sometimes, a queen is not present and is replaced by egg-laying workers.
Head view of a soldier with characteristically shaped mandibles. Unlike most ant species, Eciton burchellii is polymorphic, meaning that features amongst smaller groups within the colony vary in size: a colony contains workers ranging from 3 mm to 12 mm, with each specific "caste" suited to specialized tasks.
In addition, the queen's general inability to easily move without assistance hinders colony emigration attempts. Consequently, they do not breed in cycles like many other army ants. Instead, there is a new larval generation being born at any given time, which carried by workers in the event of a necessary nest migration. [citation needed]
Aenictus ceylonicus is a species of reddish brown army ant found in Southern India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and Australia. [1] They are completely blind and around 3 mm in length. These ants are seen foraging underneath leaf litter in forests and well-vegetated areas, travelling in a trail of in three or more columns alongside each other, in ...
Most species of the genus are specialized predators of other ants, especially of immature stages. [ 5 ] [ 9 ] [ 11 ] Only some Asian species such as Aenictus gracilis , Aenictus laeviceps , Aenictus hodgsoni , and Aenictus paradentatus are known to hunt a variety of invertebrate prey, including ants, using a large number of workers in raids.
Some soldier safari ants make tunnels to provide a safe route for the workers. Seasonally, when food supplies become short, they leave the hill and form marching columns of up to 20,000,000 ants, which constitute a considerable threat to humans, though they can be easily avoided as a column can only travel about 20 meters in an hour.