#weaver ant

[niqvassieart]

[yourfavoritehouseplant]

Weaver Ant knight I drew for a friend. She is prepared to lay down her life for her queen.

[greggslife]

Here Are My Top 10 Favourite Ants

(Updated due to public outcry and political pressure.)

No. 10 - Yellow Crazy Ants

These guys are on a list of "one hundred of the world's worst invasive species" formulated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), having invaded ecosystems from Hawaii to the Seychelles.

But don't hate just because they are awesome at establishing themselves in a new habitat due to their aggression toward other ant species, lack of aggression toward members of their own species, efficient recruitment, and large colony size. Respect the hustle!

No. 9 - Paraponera Clavata

Also known as the "bullet ant," "the one wounding deeply," or "24-hour ant", referring to the full day of pain that follows being stung.

This ant's sting currently ranks the highest of all insect stings on Justin O. Schmidt's informal sting pain index, at 4.0+. Some victims compared the pain to that of being shot, (hence the nickname,) with "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours."

Lymphadenopathy, edema, tachycardia, and fresh blood appearing in human victim feces are common symptoms from even a single sting.

Un-fuck-with-able.

No. 8 - Honeypot Ants

The name honeypot ant comes from the peculiar development of replete workers, whose abdomens become so swollen with food that they are used by the rest of the colony as living food storage. They are "drained" during famine, usually the wintertime, to sustain the colony, leaving them as "flaccid depletes."

Disgusting. 10/10

When a replete worker fills with food, a portion of her digestive tract swells and displaces other abdominal organs. It can expand about four to five times its normal linear dimension when they are fully engorged with food.

I can relate. I have eaten pasta in such quantities to displace my own organs many times.

No. 7 - Red Imported Fire Ants

Though South American in origin, the red imported fire ant has been accidentally introduced to many other parts of the world.

More than 14 million people are stung by them in the United States annually. Most victims experience intense burning and swelling, followed by the formation of sterile pustules, which may remain for several days. Up to 6% of people may suffer from anaphylaxis. More than 80 deaths have been recorded from red imported fire ant attacks.

These ants thrive in urban areas. Nests can be built under pavements and foundations. This means not only can they damage or destroy individual structures, but red imported fire ants can have an affect on broader infrastructure, damaging land, business and property values. In agriculture, they can damage crops and machinery, and threaten pastures. They also pose a threat to animals and livestock, capable of inflicting serious injury or death, especially on young, weak, or sick animals.

With annual damages estimated in the billions of dollars, these ants are considered the second worst thing to arrive on North American soil since 1492.

No. 6 - Black Garden Ants

When building their colony, these ants will structure it so as to inhibit the transmission of different contagions. Different communities within the colony are segregated by a limited number of connective nodes, allowing for greater protection of vulnerable hive members, such as larvae and pupae.

A trait I could only wish other species performed so well.

No. 5 - Pharaoh Ants

These ants utilize three types of pheromones. One is a long-lasting attractive chemical that is used to build a trail network. It remains detectable even if the ants do not use the trail for several days.

The second pheromone is also attractive, but will decay to imperceptible amounts in a matter of minutes without reapplication. This pheromone is useful in marking food sources as these are unpredictable and liable to change quickly, so not worth the longer-lasting pheremone.

The third pheromone is a repellant. If an individual finds an unprofitable area with little food or significant danger, it will release this repellant pheromone, which will warn others and cause them to look elsewhere. While positive pheromones indicating lucrative foraging sites are very common in social insects, the pharaoh ant's negative pheromone is highly unusual and pharaoh ants were the first species found to employ such a thing.

No. 4 - Argentine Ant

This species is like the Mr. Worldwide of ants. It has established itself in every continent except Antarctica (including many oceanic islands.)

It even has "supercolonies" that extend across hundreds or thousands of kilometers, first reported in California in 2000, then in Europe in 2002, Japan in 2009, and Australia in 2010.

Several subsequent studies used genetic, behavioral, and chemical analyses to show that supercolonies on separate continents actually represent a single global supercolony.

The researchers stated that the "enormous extent of this population is paralleled only by human society."

How can you not admire (and fear) the ambition and the achievement?

No. 3 - Leafcutter Ants

"Leafcutter ants" is a bit of an umbrella term, as it consists of over 45 ant species, but this gang is just so remarkable. Next to humans, leafcutter ants form some of the largest and most complex animal societies on Earth. They are known for their advanced agricultural practices. These ants are not merely foragers but skilled farmers, cultivating their own food by collecting specific kinds of leaf matter in order to produce specialized fungi in their nests.

No. 2 - Formica Fusca

These ants, (sometimes called silky ants or dusky ants,) are fast to learn, and only a single presentation of stimulus is enough for them to form a genuine long-term memory. This formed memory is also resistant to extinction.

Ants of this species can also detect volatile organic compounds emitted by cancer cells. After a 3-trial conditioning, they can differentiate cancer cell lines from healthy ones. They can also differentiate between at least two different cancerous cell lines.

A similar ability to detect human tumours has been shown in more recent studies.

No. 1 - Weaver Ants

An arboreal species, (i.e. they live in trees,) weaver ants are known for their unique nest building behaviour where workers construct nests by weaving together leaves using larval silk. Colonies can be extremely large consisting of more than a hundred nests spanning numerous trees.

How they sew the leaves together is a remarkable feat of cooperation. Typically, dozens of ants will need to form a chain to first bridge a gap between two leaves, then pull them together so another team can hold them in position whilst yet more ants sew the gap together with silk. But adult ants can't make silk, so they have to use larvae to do it, picking the larvae up and using them like little pots of glue to spin a mat of silk between the two leaves. Altogether, a hundred ants might be involved in the same task. This is a pretty remarkable piece of evolution and a testament to the power of cooperation!

[herpsandbirds]

hi hi!! Do you have a favorite ant by any chance?

Favorite Ants:

Henlo, yes, actually I do have a favorite ant!

Weaver Ants aka Green Ants (Oecophylla smaragdina), family Formicidae, found in India, SE Asia, and Australia

photographs by Caitlin Henderson

[thepixelatedcactus]

[randomanimaloftheday]

Day 207#: Asian Weaver Ant

Today's animal of the day is the Asian Weaver Ant (Oecophylla smaragdina)!

Photo credit: Tuancao1

Also known as the green tree ant or orange gaster, this species of tree-dwelling ant can be found throughout the tropical regions of Asia and Australia. I know that their alternative names are like two contradicting colors, but that's because the workers are orange and the queens are green. They're called weaver ants because instead of building underground tunnels or burrowing into the trunks of trees, they make their nests out of bits of leaves that they stitch together using a special type of silk produced by their larvae.

Photo credit: J. M. Garg

A single colony might have numerous nests, usually within the same tree, but there was one case where one colony had nests in 12 different trees, with about 151 nests in total! These ants often form symbiotic relationships with their host trees, with some trees, such as sea hibiscus, producing sweet nectar clusters in order to lure the ants in, since they will hunt and defend the tree from various pest insects like beetles. In addition to hunting other insects (and occasionally larger prey like small lizards), these ants also farm aphids, a type of sap-sucking insect, since when stroked they produce a sweet-tasting liquid called honeydew. The ants not only "milk" the aphids, but will also clean them, guard them from predators, and even move them to ideal feeding spots.

Photo credit: estheticants.com (Queen ant with eggs)

These ants are very protective of their nests and can be quite aggressive towards humans. They can't actually sting in the same way other ants can, and instead will bite you and then spray irritating chemicals into the wound from their abdomens. Despite this, in some parts of the world, these ants are actually used as a natural form of pest control to protect orchards without having to use harmful pesticides. In fact, there are records of people using these ants as pest control to protect citrus trees in China as far back as 304 AD! However, as I said, these ants hate people, and in some places, like Sri Lanka, this practice has been mostly abandoned due to how painful it is to harvest the fruit from a tree protected by these ants. In addition to pest control, these ants are also sometimes used as fish bait, pet food (usually for birds), or even as food for people. Apparently, their larvae have a very lemony taste.

[r-l02]

HERE YOU GO , my movie about ants, "The Selfish Weaver" ! The subtitles aren't finished, but what is there should suffice for a basic understanding ! (@lovedtogekiss you wanted to be tagged!)

[ketrinadrawsalot]

Weaver ants can use String Shot only when they're wielding one of their larvae.