Bulldog ant: lifestyle and behavioral patterns

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

One of the largest species of ants on our planet is the bulldog ant. It is also the most dangerous. At the time of the bite, this insect injects a portion of poison into the blood of the victim, which can cause severe, rather prolonged pain. Sometimes there is a severe allergic reaction. The bite of a single ant is not fatal, but an attack by several individuals can lead to anaphylactic shock and, in some cases, death. Therefore, it is better to stay away from them.

Description

Australia is where the bulldog ant is most commonly found. The size of its body is on average 4 cm. It is covered with short hairs. The first thing that catches your eye when looking at these insects is their long (up to 5 mm) jaws. They are equipped with several notches, thanks to which they become a real tool for catching prey. In addition to powerful jaws, ants have a sting that kills many people and animals.

Outwardly, bulldog ants are very reminiscent of wingless wasps. This resemblance is especially reinforced by their largeeyes. The vision of these insects is poorly developed, because they hunt mainly at night, when it is dark. But, nevertheless, they prefer to settle on well-lit and warm slopes. One interesting feature of the body structure of the bulldog ant is the sound organ located between the segments of the abdomen. It is a strip of small notches. When one segment collides with another, a chirring sound is produced.

Lifestyle

The ant community functions based on the caste division of all its members, in accordance with which the roles are distributed. In one colony of these insects, there are up to one thousand individuals. At the head is the queen (womb), which is slightly larger than the rest of the inhabitants of the anthill and performs only one function - to create new offspring. Workers are sterile. They build cells for the queen to lay eggs, care for the larvae and forage for food.

These ants usually inhabit forest regions. The nest is built in a sunny meadow. Its central entrance is quite wide and visible from afar. When an enemy approaches, a lot of ants jump out to meet him on an alarm signal, which immediately pounce on the intruder, glaring at him. Thanks to such a stranglehold, this insect received the name “ant-bulldog”. A photo of his powerful jaws confirms this name.

Features of behavior

The singing of these insects has been described by many travelers who managed to hear it. Ants start theirchirring almost simultaneously and ends in the same way. After a few seconds, the general choir resumes its "singing" again. At the same time, not every participant sings in time with the neighbors, but it turns out quite smoothly.

The venom of ants is very dangerous - it is able to destroy blood cells, causing a state of shock and rapid death of the victim. At the same time, the insect can use its sting repeatedly. So far, inhabiting only the territories of Australia, Tasmania, New Caledonia, bulldog ants feel like real masters there. The movement of these species to other parts of the world can lead to serious problems. In the meantime, the excessive aggressiveness of the bulldogs does not allow them to settle anywhere else - thanks to their fearlessness and violent temper, they attack everything that gives the slightest sign of life.

In the fiercest fights, when a bulldog ant fights against a scorpion, a redback spider or a bear, it usually comes out victorious, instantly hitting its victim.

Food

These insects are real predators. Worker ants go hunting alone and carry all the prey to the nest. If it turns out to be too large, other individuals rush to the rescue. The bulldog ant usually hunts for spiders and insects smaller than itself. Adults carry body parts of their prey to the nest and throw them to the larvae, which suck out food. Like other ants, bulldogs can feed each other regurgitated food from their stomachs, but do so infrequently.

Reproduction

BAt a certain moment, when the female is ready to mate, she flies out of the nest, where she is met by about a hundred males. Mating with one of them takes place on the ground, after which the individuals part. In a fertilized female, sperm remains in the seminal cavity. The male soon dies. The sperm serves to fertilize the eggs that the female will lay throughout her life.

The wings immediately disappear after mating, and the ancestor of the future colony sets off to look for a suitable place for masonry, which is most often some rotten tree. From the eggs, worker ants are born, who have to take care of the larvae and the uterus. Two years later, the queen again lays eggs, from which sexually mature females and males hatch. The function of these individuals is the formation of new colonies.

The bulldog ant lives an average of 1 to 3 years. The life expectancy of the uterus is approximately 20 years. The population of the anthill is almost completely renewed during the year.