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Ant knowledge

1. Common sense about ants

Ants belong to Arthropoda, Insecta, Hymenoptera and Formicidae.

At present, there are 283 genera of 2 1 subfamily (after Bolton 2003) (using the main classification system of 16 subfamily, compared with the system of 2 1 subfamily, the new system divides several subfamilies from Formicidae subfamily). Ant is a common insect, which is easy to identify.

Generally, the body is small (0.5mm-3cm), with four colors of black, brown, yellow and red, and the body wall is elastic, smooth or hairy. Chewing, the palate is developed.

The antenna is knee-shaped, with 4~ 13 nodes, long-handled nodes and 2~3 nodes at the end. The abdomen 1 or 1 and 2 are knotted.

Winged or wingless. The front foot has a large spacing and is comb-shaped. It is a corner cleaner (used to clean tentacles).

It is a polymorphic social insect. It is estimated that only about half of ants-there are about 1 1700 species-have been described. More extensive research on ant fauna is needed.

The common indoor environment is domestic ants, and the old ants are L. Ants are the most common insects on the earth and the largest number of insect species.

Because all kinds of ants are social groups, they were called "ants" in ancient times. According to the classification of modern morphology, ants can be divided into ants and termites.

There are many kinds of ants, of which more than 9,000 are known in the world and more than 600 have been identified in China. Ants live a long life. Worker ants can live for a few weeks to 3-7 years, and queens can live for more than ten years or decades.

An ant nest can grow in 1 place for several years or even more than 50 years. The shape of ants is divided into three parts: chest and abdomen, and has six legs.

Ant eggs are about 0.5 mm long, irregular oval, milky white, and worker ants are smaller, about 2.8 mm long and brown all over. It is easy to find a single ant when you look closely. Both male and female ants are bulky.

The abdomen is obese, the head and chest are brown, the first half of the abdomen is brown, and the second half is brown. Male ants are about 5.5 mm long.

The female ant is about 6.2 mm in length. Ants are typical social insects, which have three elements of social insects, that is, individuals of the same species can cooperate with each other to take care of their larvae; Have a clear division of labor system; And future generations can take care of the previous generation for a while.

In addition, it should be pointed out that "termites" are not ants. Besides having the same society, termites are also very different from ants in physiological structure. Biological behavior refers to the adaptive activities that organisms can perceive from the outside.

Behaviorism is the study of these activities. Morphology and behavior were first noticed by people, but it was not until the19th century that people obtained the theoretical weapons and experimental means for the study of biological behavior.

The theory of evolution has raised the behavior of animals to an adaptive level. At present, the classification of biological behavior is very confusing.

From the perspective of heredity and development, it is generally divided into innate behavior and acquired behavior, namely instinctive behavior and learning behavior. However, this classification method is not commonly used. People generally classify behaviors according to their functions. Unfortunately, this classification method is not strict, and there are a lot of overlapping areas.

Species and division of labor of ants [edit this paragraph] Ants develop into complete metamorphosis. All ants live in social groups.

Generally speaking, there are four different kinds of ants in a group. L, queen ant: reproductive female ants, or female ants, are the largest in the group, especially with large abdomen, developed reproductive organs, short antennae, small chest and feet, wings, wings falling off or no wings.

The main responsibility is to lay eggs, breed offspring and manage this big family. 2. Male ant: or father ant.

Small head, undeveloped upper jaw and slender tentacles. It has developed reproductive organs and external genitalia, and its main function is to mate with the queen ant.

3. Worker ants: capable ants. Wingless, generally the smallest individual in the group, but the largest number.

The compound eye is very small, and the monocle is very small or not. The maxilla, antennae and three pairs of pectoral feet are well developed and good at walking.

Worker ants are infertile females The main duties of worker ants are to build and expand nests, collect food and feed young ants and queens.

4. Soldier ants: Soldier ants are infertile females. With a big head and a well-developed upper jaw, it can crush hard food and become a fighting weapon when defending groups.

Ants formed a group, which was also known through marriage and flight. Love at first sight after acquaintance, mating in flight or after flight.

The "groom" did not live long, but died shortly after mating, leaving the "widow" queen ant to live a lonely life alone. The queen ant takes off her wings and chooses suitable soil and place to nest underground.

She is "fighting alone" and her strength is limited. She can only temporarily build a small room as a place to live, so that her pregnant body has a delivery room. After the eggs in the body mature and produce, the larvae hatch and the queen ant is busy.

Every young ant is fed food from her mouth until these young ants grow into adults and can live independently. When the first workers grow up, they dig holes to the outside world to find food, and then expand the building area of their nests to provide housing for more and more family members.

From then on, the queen ant who had suffered a lot sat down to enjoy life and became the commander-in-chief of this big family. The work of raising young ants and feeding queens is undertaken by worker ants.

But the queen will continue to mate and produce fertilized eggs to breed large families. Her life span can be as long as 15 years.

There are many forms of ant nests, most of which nest in underground soil, dig tunnels, secret rooms and houses, and pile up excavated materials and leaves near the entrance to form hills for protection. Some ants use leaves, stems and petioles of plants. Build nests and hang them on trees or rocks.

Other ants live in rotten wood in forest areas. More specifically, some ants nest in or near other kinds of ant nests; There is no dispute between the two "families" and they can live in harmony.

This kind of ant nest is called mixed ant nest, but it is actually heterogeneous. No matter different ants or ants of the same species, the number of ants in a nest can be very different.

The smallest ant colony has only a few dozen or nearly a hundred ants, and some have thousands, while the big ant colony can have tens of thousands or more. In the broad-leaved forest in the south of China, there is also a kind of jumping-tailed ant. As the name implies, it has a pincer tail and often sticks up, as if eager to try and prepare to attack.

2. Little is known about ants

Common sense of ants' basic habits

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First, the external form of ants:

The ant's body is divided into three parts: head, chest and abdomen. It has six feet, thin and elastic body wall, membranous wings, hard and fragile. Because everyone has seen ants, its specific form is slightly.

B, the growth of ants:

It takes 14 days from egg to worker ant, and it goes through two stages: larva and pupa. The egg is white or yellowish, slender, 0.5 mm in size and shaped like a grain of rice. Young ants are milky white, with thin front ends, often curved, and are easily mistaken for "ant eggs". The pupa is the last age, and the young ants become shorter and can't eat or move, which is called the pre-pupa, and the pre-pupa is the pupa after molting. Pupa is milky white at first, and then gradually turns yellow-brown. Often stacked together, it is also mistaken for "ant eggs."

The life span of ants is relatively long, and the life span of a single ant is amazing. Some worker ants can live for 7 days, and the life of queen ants can be as long as 20 years. But a wandering ant can only live for a few days This is due to the clear division of labor within the ant colony and the interdependent group structure. This is the basic factor of its prosperity.

Feeding habits of ants

Ants are divided into: lower species, carnivorous, feeding on insects, small animals and even dead animals; Stinky ant subspecies, Formicidae and higher species of Formicidae can feed on animals and plants, especially honeydew secreted by aphids and scale insects; Most other ants are herbivores, and they mostly feed on dead leaves, seeds, fruits and branches.

Polyrhachis vicina is a higher omnivorous species, which can feed rice bran, wheat bran, beans, sugars, melons and fruits, animal feed such as fish meal, silkworm chrysalis, bones, eggs, dead and live insects, etc. , or chicken feed or homemade feed.

D, the physiological habits of ants

1. Ants can grow normally at 15-40℃, but the optimum temperature is between 25-35℃. Hibernate when it is below 10℃ in winter.

2. The soil moisture of ants should be controlled between 10% ~ 20%; The relative humidity of air should be controlled between 70% and 90%.

3. Ants are social insects and have a strong love for their nests. Most species nest underground. They are omnivorous, usually with both plants and meat. Polyrhachis vicina, like other ants, usually takes the nest as their home. There is a queen (male ant) and one or dozens of queens (female ants) in a nest. Worker ants specialize in nesting, foraging, feeding and other work, with the largest number; Soldiers and ants guard the safety of the masses, and the number is small.

E, the reproductive habits of ants:

The reproductive process of ants is generally divided into three parts: mating, spawning and nesting. When a nest of ants reaches a certain number, the queen will breed male and female ants in advance. When the time is right, female ants will fly out of their nests to mate, build their own nests to reproduce and become new families. Ants are completely abnormal insects. Complete metamorphosis is a process from egg to adult through larval stage and pupal stage.

3. The popular science knowledge of ants

[m ǐ y ǐ] Ants (insects) Ants are insects.

It belongs to Arthropoda, Insecta, Hymenoptera and Formicidae. There are many kinds of ants, including 1 1700 species in the world and 283 genera of 2 1 subfamily. More than 600 species have been identified in China.

Recently, a new ant was discovered that reproduces asexually. Ants live a long life. Worker ants can live for several weeks to 3- 10 years, and queens can live for several years or even ten years.

An ant nest can grow in 1 place for several years or even more than ten years. It should be noted that termites do not belong to ants.

Ants under the microscope are typical social groups. There are three social factors: individuals of the same species can cooperate with each other to take care of their larvae; There is a clear division of labor; At least two generations in the ant colony overlap (individual cases are not excluded), and future generations can take care of the previous generation for a period of time.

[1] Ants are definitely experts in architecture. There are many compartments in the nest, and these compartments have their own uses. The ant nest is solid, safe and comfortable, and the roads extend in all directions and are complicated.

There is also a circle of soil outside the ant nest, and there are some places to store food. Ventilation is cool, warm in winter and cool in summer, and food is not easy to deteriorate. [2] Ants are also famous architects in the animal kingdom.

They dig holes in the ground with their jaws and carry sand grain by grain to build their nests. The "room" of the bird's nest will keep its original shape unless the soil is seriously dry.

Walter Chilgel, an expert in ant research, modeled the ant nest. He poured liquid metal, paraffin wax or orthodontic gypsum into the invading red imported fire ant nest, solidified it and dug it out.

He said, "You can get a structure that goes deep underground." According to his observation, the area closest to the surface has the most ant rooms, and the deeper the ant rooms are, the smaller the area is.

He said: "In order to do this, ants must know their depth relative to the ground." But how they are "constructed" is still a mystery.

According to Chilger, ants may measure the depth by sensing the carbon dioxide content in the soil. [3] Generally, there are two levels of division editing of ant colony: queen ant and worker ant.

At a certain time, unfertilized female ants and male ants will appear, and some kinds of worker ants will specialize and become soldier ants. Some species live in nests of other species, and their larvae are fed by worker ants of the host.

1. Queen: The female with reproductive ability, or female ant, is the largest in the ant colony, especially with large breasts and developed reproductive organs. In most species and situations, only the queen ant is responsible for laying eggs, and some species, such as fierce ants, can hunt by themselves. But the queen ant can't control the whole colony.

2. Female ant: a female with reproductive ability after mating. After mating, she lost her wings and became a new queen, commonly known as "princess" or "angel". Most female ants lose their wings after mating, but very few do not. 3. Male ant: or father ant.

With wings. Small head, undeveloped upper jaw and slender tentacles.

Toxoplasma gondii has developed reproductive organs and external genitalia, and its main function is to mate with the queen, commonly known as "prince" or "mosquito". Died shortly after mating

4. Worker ants: capable ants. Wingless, undeveloped female, usually the smallest individual in the group, but the largest number.

The compound eye is very small, and the monocle is very small or not. The palate, antennae and three pairs of feet are well developed and good at walking.

Worker ants are infertile. The main duties of worker ants are to build and expand nests, collect food and feed larvae and queens.

In order to hibernate, ants have to eat a lot of food in autumn to store their body fat, but they don't eat in the following winter. Because of this, the workers in the ant colony are looking for food almost every day to ensure that every ant colony member can eat enough food to resist the cold in winter.

Some species have reproductive ability, such as two-needle rib-breasted leaf-cutting ants, and some fierce ants. 5. Soldier ant: "Soldier ant" is a common name of some ant species, and it is a female ant without reproductive ability.

With a big head and a well-developed upper jaw, it can crush hard food and become a fighting weapon when defending groups. The main species editor, the subgenus Formicidae, was first described by Jerdon in 185 1. He described this species as Harpegnathos Saltalor. He pointed out that this ant is three-quarters of an inch long and will jump up and run away when it is frightened or disturbed.

They have strong jaws and powerful tail spines. They nest underground, especially at the roots of plants, and prey on small insects.

Boneline is a kind of ant family, which is distributed in humid areas of subtropical and tropical regions all over the world. Not common in big cities.

They are all carnivorous or predatory ants, but some species also prey in groups. Very few polymorphisms.

Nodule 1, almost without anterior stalk, obviously contracted between the two segments at the base of the posterior abdomen, and exposed the caudate spine. There are 42 genera and about 2000 species recorded in the world.

Little yellow house ant Little yellow house ant is small, the worker ant is only about 1.5-2 mm long, and it has acupuncture. It is found all over China, and it is often found in kitchens, under sundries in closed balconies, and in cracks in walls, which is very harmful.

Yellow ants, also known as yellow orange ants and mangrove ants, are widely distributed in southern China. Yellow ant is an arboreal ant species, which uses larvae to spin silk, roll up fresh leaves and build an "ant bag" to inhabit. Yellow ants in large communities generally have multiple sub-nests.

Yellow ants are fierce and good at preying on various insects, so they are often used for biological control in agricultural production. Big-headed ants are widely distributed in China and breed rapidly. Most kinds are multi-post-production, and a few are single post-production. There are soldiers in the ant colony.

Rochelle Ants Rochelle Ants are widely distributed in China and belong to ant genus. Smelly ants are distributed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and South China, and nest in outdoor trunks or roots. The small black-headed acid ants can resist the invasion of red imported fire ants.

Leaf-cutting ants Leaf-cutting ants cut leaves from trees and other plants and use them to grow fungi. They feed their larvae with growing fungi (adults mainly feed on the juice of their chopped leaves).

Only 38 species of ants belonging to two genera (Atta and Acromyrmex) can actually cut leaves. The ability of China native ants to grow fungi without cutting leaves.

Cattle-headed ants, also known as "Australian Giant Ants" and "Cattle-headed Ants", are relatively large in size, with a maximum size of 5 cm. They have thorns, which can kill their enemies. Bulldog ants in Queensland can grow to three centimeters.

Fire ants.

4. All the knowledge of ants, the shorter the better.

The basic characteristics of ants ants belong to Arthropoda, Insecta, Hymenoptera and Formicidae.

At present, there are 283 genera of 2 1 subfamily (after Bolton 2003). (Compared with the system of 2 1 subfamily, the main classification system of 16 subfamily is adopted, and the new system divides several subfamilies from Formicidae subfamily. ) Ant is a common insect, which is easy to identify.