Army ants: description, features, interesting facts and reviews

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

The world around us is fraught with many mysteries and surprises. It is so rich in a variety of species that it is unrealistic for an ordinary person to comprehend all the subtleties of nature. Especially numerous representatives of the animal world are insects.

Nomadic ants - features of insects

Everyone has met ants in their life. These tiny workers always cause admiration and surprise in people. Their work is organized to the smallest detail. Each inhabitant of the anthill works for the common good. But did you know that there are a huge number of varieties of these insects? And some of them are very dangerous.

African army ants got their name because of their behavior. They do not create their anthill in a certain place, but lead a nomadic lifestyle, migrating in colonies from one area to another.

The movement of the column takes place during the daytime. In 1 hour, ants are able to overcome from 100 to 300 m. The width of the column can reach 15 m. Then it narrows, forming a kind of tail, the length of which can stretch for 45 m.

Road ants, moving in whole colonies, sweep away everything in their path. These insects are dangerous for both animals andfor people. The bite of an ant is very painful and can cause an allergic reaction in a person, and this, in turn, can lead to anaphylactic shock and suffocation.

Insect habitats

Nomad ants are found not only in Africa. The habitat of these insects is the tropics. Therefore, you can see them on the two American continents, in Central and South Asia. Insects love tropical and subtropical climates.

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The number of the colony can reach 22 million individuals. The largest is the uterus. Its length during the laying period is 5 cm, which is a record among various kinds of ants. The uterus is capable of producing a huge number of individuals, so the number of the colony does not decrease. Some insects die, but new army ants immediately take their place.

Traction to migration is observed only in two subspecies:

Ecitoninae.
Dorylinae.

In the process of movement, the ant soldiers are responsible for protection, so they are concentrated on the edges of the column. The inner part is occupied by workers who drag the future offspring and food.

Since the movement of the column occurs only in the daytime, at night the ants create a nest of living labor, the diameter of which is about a meter. Insects cling to each other with their paws, forming a secluded place for their queen and her offspring. To create such a nest, about 150 - 700 thousand individuals are involved.

Migration does not last long, only a few days, after which the settled phase begins, which lasts from several weeks to 3 months. During this period, the uterus lays a huge number of eggs (100 - 300 thousand) and by the end of the parking lot, larvae will appear from them. At the same time, adults will emerge from the cocoons of the previous offspring - adults.

Next, the colony moves forward. As soon as the larvae begin to pupate, it will be time for the next stop.

Insect food

The favorite delicacy of ants are insects such as:

wasp;
bee;
termite.

Road ants of the African continent also feed on carrion, and it does not matter at all whether they eat the corpse of which animal, large or small. Stray insects ruthlessly absorb everything that comes their way:

different types of insects;
kite;
bird nests;
invertebrates of small size;
amphibians.

Ants pierce the victim and inject a dose of toxic, poisonous substance into it. Since the speed of insects is not too high (up to 20 km / h), weak, slow and wounded animals most often become their prey.

Do army ants have enemies?

Oddly enough, but such a dangerous insect as a nomadic ant still has an enemy - it is a praying mantis. But the organization of the ant colony is so high that even with such an enemy, insects can easily cope. Seeing a praying mantis, one of the ants rushes tohim and bites his jaws, injecting poison. Even if the insect dies, the rest of the individuals, having seen such a signal, group and rebuff the offender. In this case, you will not envy the praying mantis, he is in danger of death.

Because of this collective organization of the column, no one is in danger of hunting ants.

How long do these insects live?

Few people know that the life expectancy of the ant queen reaches 10 - 15 years. Other individuals of the colony live much less, from 2 months to 2 years maximum. Under laboratory conditions, the lifespan of individual insects was 4 years.

Fascinating facts about roaming ants

The roaming killer ants that carry a mortal danger to humanity are a complete fiction created by the film industry. Of course, insect bites are a big threat to people who are allergic to toxic substances, but not a single case of human death has been recorded. Therefore, calling nomad ants killers would be unfair.
These insects are excellent orderlies. They clean agricultural plantations from various pests.
On the African continent, army ants are the most dangerous predators.
Insects are able to follow the tracks of their relatives.
Ants have no sight at all, but their hearing is well developed.
The queen in the colony has no rights. Her task is to breed new offspring.
The people of Central Africa leave their homes and take their livestock away as soon as they appearinformation that the column of ants is moving in the direction of their settlement.
If the army ants are moving in the direction of the prison, then prisoners who have not committed serious crimes and are not sentenced to death are released for the duration of the insect invasion.

Varieties of dangerous ants

In our regions, we often meet ants, but they do not pose a danger to people, which cannot be said about some varieties living in tropical climates. There are species that contain aggressive poison. Considered dangerous:

Siafu are nomadic army ants. Habitat - Australia. Insects have powerful jaws. As with other species of wandering ants, there is no permanent anthill. Insects build a bivouac (temporary dwelling), which consists of the bodies of workers. Bites are dangerous for humans, as they can cause allergies.
Bullet ants. These insects have a very strong poison - ponerotoxin. The bite delivers a terrible pain that does not subside during the day. This type of insect is found in the tropics and subtropics of the South American continent. The Indian tribes used these ants for initiation ceremonies. The young man was attached to a bracelet, which was hung with insects. The ants bit the boy, after which his limbs were paralyzed for 2-3 days, and the bites turned black. The worst thing is that a young man must go through this execution 20 times, and only after that he can be considered a real man.
Fiery. This type of ant is verydangerous to humans. In one year, about 20 deaths were recorded after a bite that caused a severe allergic reaction. Habitat: Asia, southern Europe and America. Ants easily adapt to the environment, populating unknown territories. The fire ant's venom is called solenopsin. The bite feels like the pain of a burn, it provokes the formation of a tumor.
Ant bulldog. A large insect that is very poisonous. Three out of a hundred bitten experienced anaphylactic shock. It is very difficult to predict what the body's reaction to such a poison will be, because it is very different in its chemical composition from the toxins contained in the sting of bees and wasps.

The army ants, the description of which was discussed in the article, are really amazing representatives of the animal world. One can only envy their organization and well-coordinated work.