In our article we want to talk about incredible workers - ants. Wherever we are, they are around us - small and inconspicuous. They live all over the earth. Especially a lot of them in the forests. Before you have time to stop, goosebumps are already crawling and biting on your legs.
Who are ants?
Ants are a family of insects and a superfamily of ants. It should be noted that these are the most numerous representatives of the entire family. Why are these creatures so interesting? Despite their small size, they have a fairly complex organization of their society. There is even an entire science that studies ants and their behavior called myrmecology.
It is difficult to describe all the diversity of these insects, and therefore we will only talk about forest ants, which we often meet. In the middle part of Eurasia, as a rule, one can find three varieties of them. It is about them that I would like to tell in more detail.
Red myrmica
Myrmica is a species of small red ants that are about four to five centimeters long. The body has a color from yellow to red and brown. This type is the mostdistributed in Eurasia. Such forest ants are often found both in meadows and in vegetable gardens, competing with the well-known black ones. An interesting fact is that they have mastered not only wildlife, but also urban landscapes. For their protection, small red ants use a sting and poison, which is quite painful for the body, especially when the bites are numerous. Sometimes people get an allergic reaction due to acid (formic) ingestion.
Myrmica lifestyle
However, the insects themselves are capable of an aggressive attack only if they have damaged their anthill in the forest. Myrmica nests are built on the ground, under pebbles and in tree stumps, moss tussocks. Their families number from 10 to 12 thousand individuals. At the same time, there can be up to a hundred egg-laying females. Members of the same family live in several nests, which are interconnected not only by ground paths, but also by underground passages. Some of these "houses" are permanent, they are inhabited all year round. Other buildings are seasonal, insects use them only in summer. Before wintering, all members of a huge family move to large permanent nests.
Small ants use their summer apartments to grow numerous larvae, pupae and basal aphids.
Myrmics prey on small invertebrates, eat the nectar of flowers, and grow colonies of aphids on plant roots. Scout ants are looking for food. Having found food, they leave smell marks, then return to the anthill for help and correctlythey take their brothers out according to their own notes.
Red wood ant
This variety of ants is medium in size. But the red wood ant makes the greatest contribution to protecting forests from pests. Their significance is very great. Red ants are listed in the Red Book.
Insects build their homes in huge cone-shaped piles throughout the forest. The size of worker ants reaches nine millimeters. They have a black belly and a brown head. They build an anthill from needles and small twigs. It may seem that this is randomly scattered garbage, but this is not at all the case. Imagine that even in heavy rains, the anthill does not get wet a bit, and all its internal passages remain intact and dry. The height of the ant house reaches seventy centimeters. And sometimes even one and a half meters. Insects usually start building on old stumps.
The outer part of the house is made waterproof, but the humidity inside the anthill itself remains consistently high. This makes it possible to smolder and decompose those plant elements from which the entire structure is built. It is this process that heats the entire dwelling. If necessary, the ants repair their house, taking out the old parts and replacing them with new, dry ones. The anthill is regularly cleaned, unnecessary food remains, egg shells and dead individuals are taken out of it.
Family way of life
The process of internal decay never stops. Due to this, a zone with high temperature and humidity is formed inside the house. Here are storedlarvae, eggs and pupae. There is also the home of the most important figure of the anthill - the uterus, which is engaged in laying eggs, which are later looked after by nannies.
One queen ant lives in every house. Sometimes it happens that a young female turns one of the summer nests into an independent anthill. At the same time, it takes away some of the worker ants, since it cannot exist by itself. Thus, a completely new house with its inhabitants is formed.
If the size of the family is large enough, then the uterus of the ant can become another queen. But this happens very rarely. In any case, even the largest anthills cannot have more than two queens.
It is also possible that a female becomes a queen in a nest left without a queen. However, this phenomenon happens very rarely, as a rule, it is difficult to find an ownerless anthill in the forest.
What do ants eat?
Forest ants live in numerous families, and each of them has its own territory, which is carefully guarded. They don't let outsiders into their lands.
Any description of an ant always begins with a story about his hard work. And there are reasons for this. Small creatures are so strong that they bring insects into the anthill that exceed their weight. And if the prey is too large, then it is delivered collectively. When observing ants, it may seem that they only interfere with each other, but this is not so. Whatever it was, but the prey is inanthill. It's hard to imagine, but every day hardworking creatures drag a couple of thousand insects.
The diet of ants consists of larvae of the pine sawfly, cutworm caterpillars, oak leafworms, pupae of various butterflies. Experts have calculated that the inhabitants of one anthill are able to protect up to one hectare of forest from pests. What a great job these little creatures do. It is difficult to underestimate their contribution to the he alth of forest plantations.
Ants that bring food share it with other individuals who work as cleaners, nannies, builders. Everyone has their own responsibilities, there is a division of labor. Who is prepared to take into account, is determined upon birth and depends on the needs of the anthill.
Ants have long been thought to be robot-like creatures, albeit industrious, as their interests are centered solely on their huge family. However, recent studies have led experts to the conclusion that each small creature has its own character, they can play by clinging to each other or simply rolling the ball. Apparently, these disciplined kids find time not only for work, but also for fun.
Black ants
Another inhabitant of the forests is a large black ant. Work is constantly in full swing in large rotten spruce stumps, insect heads appear every now and then in round holes in the bark. These are the famous black ants. They are also called woodworms.
The big black ant is always busy with work. Building inside the stumpsnever stops. Numerous galleries are constantly expanding. An interesting fact is that representatives of the same family are very different from each other. Builder ants are small, but the soldiers are quite large - some individuals reach two centimeters. However, not only the external description of the ant is different, but also the manner of behavior. Working individuals fuss in work, they are energetic and fast. The soldiers are slow and sedate, their movements are quite leisurely.
Underground Woodworm Roads
The stump in which these wood ants live is surrounded by fresh and old sawdust, which indicates ongoing work. At the same time, not a single individual is visible around the dwelling itself. The erroneous impression is created that the insects do not leave the shelter. This is not entirely true. It's just that the trails they use are not visible from the outside.
Black forest ants make underground passages in the surface soil that look like real tunnels. Where do they lead? It's simple: a network of such passages stretches to the nearest stumps and firs, from there woodworms deliver insects and pollen. Underground roads are a great alternative to dangerous land routes. In addition, it is more difficult to get to the destination on the ground, and ants move quickly along the corridors. Underground paths become traps for other insects that fall into them. Woodworms will gladly take advantage of such prey.
Black ant habits
Black ants love warmth, and therefore arrange their homes in stumps well warmed by the sun. Like other forest ants, they are busy working from morning to evening. They are most active during warm times of the day. In the morning hours they are slow because they are cold. At night, the whole anthill falls asleep, only large soldiers crawl along the stump. Small individuals perform all the work associated with the uterus and its larvae. Soldiers gnaw wood, get food, protect the house. Underground tunnels save ants in bad weather. At this time, all outdoor work ends.
Benefits of forest ants
Ants are very useful creatures. They secrete a substance called formic alcohol, used in medicine to treat arthritis, rheumatism, hepatitis, tuberculosis, diabetes, and kidney failure. This remedy also helps with excessive hair loss.
Forest ants have a beneficial effect on soil cover, as they loosen them, thereby enriching them with oxygen. In addition, they are food for a number of forest birds: woodpecker, wood grouse, tits, black grouse. The ants themselves destroy a significant number of pests, which helps to preserve forest plantations.
The harmful effects of insects
For all their usefulness, insects also cause harm, breeding numerous aphids. However, for forest plantations, this is not so scary, the benefits of ants outweigh the negative impact. But the accumulation of aphids can cause significant damage to gardens and orchards.
Bite ants are dangerous because they release acid. Substance in small quantities is not dangerous, but can cause allergic reactions initching, redness, swelling. But numerous bites cause general intoxication of the body with dizziness, nausea, and pain. Allergy sufferers may have swelling of the face and throat, speech suffers, pressure changes. In the most difficult situations, anaphylactic shock is possible.
Formic acid is dangerous to the eyes because it causes chemical burns. To reduce pain, ice is applied to the bite site and an antihistamine is taken.
