Ants (Formicidae)
About 12571 species of these amazing insects are living on our planet. Scientists believe that there are so many ants that their total weight could be 15 to 25% of the total animal biomass on earth. That is amazing, especially when you know that the number of ant species is negligible in comparison to the 30 and 50 millions animal species based on Terry Erwin’s (1988, 1997) study of tropical insects. More about the ant taxonomy on the ant species page. On this website you find an educational section ‘amazing ant facts‘ were you can discover more about ants.
- Study of tropical insects, Terry Erwin, 1988, 1997
- Hymenoptera Name Server, Ohio State University
Behavior
Ants are social insects. They communicate and cooperate to survive. Ants can communicate in different ways: pheromones, sounds and body language.
Anatomy
Ants are like wasps and bees part of the Hymenoptera order. Hymenoptera have membranous wings and like other insects they have a head, thorax and abdomen with six legs. More on (simplified) anatomy of ants can be found on the anatomy pages. With their six legs they even leave trails!
- Ant anatomy, University of Florida
Biogeography
Ant can be found almost everywere all over the world. There is only one continent that is not populated by ants: Antarctica. Many ant species can be found on multiple continents like the Argentine ants (Linepithema humile). But there also species only to be found on specific places in the United States like the Leptothorax minutissimus. On a smaller scale ants species prefer specific habitats. By example; European wood ants prefer mainly woods and heatlands.
The smallest study for biogeography of ants would be biotopography. Basically this is the study of the position of nests, roads and functions inside ant’s (super) colonies. Compare it with the studies of human urban planning. Read more on the Ant-maps project study of wood ants.
- How to Identify the Argentine Ant, Alex Wild, 2008
- Red list, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, 1996
- Do ants understand the basic principles of urban planning? Arjan van den Bosch, 2008
Evolution
The oldest ant fossil is discovered in Amber. This ant is 92 million years old and discovered in New Jersey. This ant (Brownimecia clavata) already had the same anatomy as modern ants. Just like sharks and crocodiles their survival strategy is very good. They all stand for millions of years and even survived the dinosaurs.
- Primitive new ants in Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, New Jersey, and Canada, Engel, Michael S. and Grimaldi, David A., 2005
Relation to human
Because ants have a social live structure wich is similar to the human social life these insects are an inspiration and subject of study for many people. On this website you can find several ant to human relations revealed.
- Forensic entomology Can ants help solve crimes?
- Ants and volcanoes Can ants predict a volcanic eruption?
